the toxic truth - Greenpeace

92 Amnesty internAtionAl And greenpeAce netherlAnds
Chapter 7
falsifying the oil
reCord book
During the Dutch court process it
became clear that the Dutch police
believed that the Probo Koala’s Oil
Record Book had been falsified. The
Oil Record Book apparently showed
that normal (periodic) tank washings
had taken place on the ship on 10
April 2006. However, other evidence,
including email messages, indicated
that no tank washings had taken
place, but rather caustic washing of
coker naphtha. Falsification of the
Oil Record Book is a violation of the
MARPOL Convention. Consequently,
the Dutch authorities decided to
inform Panama, the flag state of the
Probo Koala, of their findings. 402 It is
not known whether Panama took any
action on this matter.
The court also noted:
“ one must not forget that this was the first known incidence
of gasoline being washed with caustic soda on board a ship. APS
403
could therefore not be expected to be prepared for this. ”
In 2010, a Dutch court found Captain Chertov guilty of forgery
on the grounds that he had “neglected to fill in the ‘Notification
of ships waste and (remainders of) noxious substances’ form
in the correct manner”. Chertov wrote on the form that the
toxic waste was “Oily tank washings” consisting of “UN number
1203”, (which is code for gasoline and/or engine fuel) and
“WATER”. 404
The court held that Captain Chertov was “knowledgeable about
the presence of the caustic soda” and that he “was familiar
with its hazardous nature”. 405 The court stated that, in forging
the form, Captain Chertov had “accepted that the correct
precautionary measures could not be taken” by APS, which
meant that there was a risk “that any persons involved in these
procedures [unloading and processing the waste] could suffer
injuries as a result.” 406
A new description for Abidjan, but still inaccurate
As detailed above, in an email dated 17 August 2006 to Puma,
Trafigura stated that the waste was to be considered not as
MARPOL slops but chemical slops. 407 In the same email,
Trafigura introduced the information that the waste had a COD
level of 21,000mg/l. 408
The origin of this figure is not known. Trafigura has claimed
that the figure of a COD of 21,000mg/l came from APS in a
telephone call on 3 July 2006. 409 The APS employee involved
denies this. Trafigura’s assertion that APS provided them
with a figure of 21,000mg/l lacks credibility. While there is
no evidence to support the assertion that APS ever made
a reference to COD of 21,000mg/l, there is clear email
evidence that they told Trafigura, via the agent BMA, that the
COD was close to 500,000mg/l. 410 Amnesty International and
Greenpeace have asked Trafigura to explain why they chose to
ignore the written figure of 500,000mg/l when informing their
Ivorian subsidiary of the nature of the waste. The company did
not respond.