ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — An Ivory Coast court has ordered two men jailed for their roles in a toxic waste dumping scandal that the government claims killed at least 16 people.
More than 100,000 people sought medical treatment after hundreds of tons of waste were offloaded furtively one night in August 2006 at 17 sites in Abidjan.
Nigerian Salomon Ugborugbo, 39, who owned a local company whose trucks collected the eye-stinging waste offloaded from Dutch-based Trafigura's ship, was sentenced to jail for 20 years. Ugborugbo was convicted on a charge of poisoning and sentenced late Wednesday.
Defense lawyer Charles Kignima called verdict against Ugborugbo "unjust."
An Ivorian shipping agent, Essouin Koua Desire, was convicted of complicity in poisoning and sentenced to five years. The court said Desire played a key role in Ugborugbo's company Tommy securing the $20,000 waste disposal contract.
Five customs officials, the Abidjan port's military commander and its maritime director were acquitted.
An official government investigation named Ugborugbo as the "principal" actor. Defense lawyer Charles Mentennon criticized the decision not to put officials from Trafigura on trial. Many Ivorians blame Trafigura.
Trafigura paid the government $197 million in part to help clean up the waste but maintains it was not liable for the dumping.
Soon after the payment, three Trafigura officials were freed from prison, but Trafigura says they were only released because under Ivorian law they could not be held more than six months without being charged.
Critics allege Trafigura hired Tommy to save money. The ship had previously stopped in the Netherlands where officials would have charged 16 times more for the work.
The government says Tommy was set up solely for the dumping operation and did not have the technical ability to do it properly.
Trafigura maintains the waste was not toxic, but was a mix of gasoline residues, water and caustic sodas used for cleaning. U.N. experts, however, say the waste contained hydrogen sulfide, which in concentrated doses can kill humans.