UK Oil Company Accused Of Trying To Buy Witnesses
By: Ainsley Brown
It is situations like these that simply go to fuel the general public distain for multinational. I guess the one positive thing that comes out of this and other similar situations is that it provides ample material for Michael Moore– esque films – just great entertainment. Despite the entertainment value of such films they often depict the dire circumstances that many people find themselves in as a result of a multinational’s operations – legal and illegal.
And this where Trafigura comes in. The London based multinational oil company stand accused of trying to buy, that is to say, trying to get some witness-claimants to change their stories about a toxic spill in the Ivory Coast. According to the Times they apparently succeeded in one case.
The lawyer for Trafigura freely admitted that their client had contact with the witnesses but argued that such contact was permitted in exceptional circumstance; which this clearly was. Mr. Justice Jack sitting in the High Court was having none of it. He granted the 31,000 Ivory Coast claimants a temporary injunction prohibiting Trafigura from having “any communications, by whatever means, with any claimant.” This was of course subject to very specific exceptions: where the claimants’ lawyer agrees; where an expert examines a claimant on the directions of the court; and where an independent translator assists the expert.
