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the toxic truth
chapter 13 The court in Amsterdam found Trafigura guilty of illegally exporting waste to Africa. © ANP/EVERT ELZINGA
The sentences Trafigura Beheer BV was fined €1 million for breaches under Charges 1 and 2.687 Captain Chertov was found guilty of Charges 2 and 3, and given a five-month suspended prison sentence.688 Naeem Ahmed was found guilty of the Charge 2; he was given a six-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of €25,000.689 The court noted that Trafigura Beheer BV’s violation of the EWSR was “the most serious offence”,690 and criticized Trafigura for its actions. The court stated that:
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Trafigura may justifiably and with reason be blamed for having done precisely that which the EWSR, the Fourth Lomé Convention and the Treaty of Basel all aim to prevent, namely the exporting of waste to the Third World and 691 causing harm to the environment .
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The judgement highlighted Trafigura Beheer BV’s failure to have had a proper plan for disposal of the waste when producing it,692 its failure to check that Abidjan possessed the proper facilities to process the waste before discharging it,693 and also criticized the circumstances surrounding the contract with Compagnie Tommy.694