Paper welcomes 'climbdown' over gag

12 April 2012

A newspaper has hailed a "climbdown" after lawyers for oil traders Trafigura abandoned attempts to keep secret a scientific report.

Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, said it had taken a five-week legal battle to "force" information about the alleged dumping of toxic waste in Ivory Coast into the open.

The Guardian said it had received a letter from lawyers for London-based Trafigura saying it was "released forthwith" from any reporting restrictions.

Mr Rusbridger said: "I welcome the climbdown by Trafigura and Carter-Ruck. Now that people can read the Minton Report, they will realise why it was in the public interest for it to be published.

"It has taken a five-week legal battle - involving journalists, lawyers, bloggers and parliament itself - to force this information into the open. Never again should a newspaper be threatened with contempt of court for reporting Parliament.

"And judges should think again about the use of 'super-injunctions' which are themselves secret.

"This is a good day for Parliament, open justice and free reporting."

Lawyers for Trafigura said in a statement: "Settlement has been reached with The Guardian newspaper over the injunction proceedings brought by our clients Trafigura Limited and Trafigura Beheer BV. The injunction concerned a draft report which had been commissioned from Minton, Treharne & Davies in September 2006.

"In early September 2009, Trafigura learned that the draft report had been unlawfully obtained by an unknown third party and apparently passed to The Guardian. As The Guardian were informed, the draft report was confidential and subject to legal privilege.

"However, despite a number of requests, The Guardian refused even to confirm that it had the document, still less that it would not publish it. This left Trafigura with little alternative but to make a court application."

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