RBS and Lloyds assist Trafigura with bond issue
March 12th, 2010
Picture: Uzar News Poland
Guess which taxpayer-owned banks in the UK are helping Trafigura — the oil trading company which illegally dumped 500 tonnes of hazardous waste, causing a public health emergency in the Ivory Coast — to raise millions of euros on the bond markets?
You guessed it. The taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group are reportedly the lead managers on Trafigura’s mooted fund-raiser alongside Paris-based BNP Paribas (see Reuters story here.)
This news can be expected to cause outrage among UK citizens, especially those who monitor the activities of the taxpayer-owned banks. Surely RBS and Lloyds ought to have introduced some sort of code of conduct subsequent to their partial nationalizations, preventing them from assisting companies with track records as dodgy as Trafigura’s?
The Swiss-registered company’s name has not only been linked to Ivory Coast toxic waste scandal, but also with worldwide accusations of bribery, smuggling or improper waste disposal (see David Leigh in The Guardian, 16th Sept 2009). Trafigura even issued a notorious super injunction against The Guardian on September 11th, 2009, in a bid to prevent the newspaper from factually reporting parliamentary questions that were asked relating to its activities.
Short URL: https://www.ianfraser.org/?p=1041
Not surprised… If it’s illegal or dodgy, you can bet these badly-run banks will fund it… says it all about their ethics and morals, they clearly have no conscience.