Are Carter Ruck losing their touch? BBC article dubbing Trafigura a “Killer toxic waster” seemingly unaffected by recent legal action…
To my mind the piece I’ve linked to above is even more damning than the two that Carter Ruck managed to get taken off the BBC’s website – presumably at considerable expense.
The Guardian today confirmed that the substance of Trafigura’s libel case against the BBC’s Newsnight programme was that “that the oil traders had been wrongly accused of causing deaths, not just sickness”. A ‘resolution’ of the case, presumably in Trafigura’s favour, is expected about now.
Yet this article, originating from the BBC World Service, appears to make exactly the same allegation with impunity, and in even starker terms. Are Carter-Ruck losing their touch? Are they really worth the £500 per hour that they reportedly charge?
UPDATE – The grovelling apology has been announced – but at the time of writing the above World Service article is still online. Interestingly, according to CNN, the often-cited “20 experts” who concluded that Trafigura’s waste “did not harm anyone” were not independent – they had all been hired by the company. According to Index on Censorship the case could have cost £3 million to defend – yet more proof of the urgent need for Libel Reform.
UPDATE 2 – The footage has also now disappeared. Guess that’s the end of that then…
UPDATE 3 – Oh look…
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