Well, extraordinarily Carter-Ruck has obtained an injunction preventing the reporting of a parliamentary question (and the answer to it) due to be asked this coming Thursday.
Fortunately, the injunction doesn't appear to extend to the Mother of Parliaments itself, and the order book still shows this question to be asked by Paul Farrelly MP.
Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme):
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura.
Now, I don't pretend to have any great knowledge of the issue - the dumping of toxic waste - other than by following bits and pieces of it in the media. I will be making greater efforts now, however, following the intervention of Carter-Fuck and trust the question itself (and the answer) will be broadcast in the usual way on the parliamentary channel.
In the meantime, for those who have not seen it elsewhere, the Minton Report referred to in the question can be found here here.
And the Guardian has a link to "internal emails from Trafigura operatives around the world".
These apparently give a
Blow-by-blow account of the oil trading firm's decision to buy gasoline from the Mexican state refinery PMI via a US oil terminal at Brownsville, and then process it at sea on a chartered tanker, the Probo Koala, using caustic washing.
Finally, they show the traders trying to get rid of the resulting toxic waste first at the tank terminal La Skhirra in Tunisia; then at Amsterdam; then at Lagos; then the Ivory Coast; and subsequently in Norway.
Carter-Ruck seems to have kicked up a perfect storm, producing the exact opposite of his intended effect. You can follow developments at #carterruck"> and #trafigura">
BREAKING NEWS - CARTER-RUCK and TRAFIGURA cave in
See the latest from the Guardian here. Now Carter-Ruck will say that was nothing to do with Twitter or the blogosphere. But we know the truth. Don't we.
