Wanted CEO Found Living in Luxury in the Hamptons

zoom

Greenpeace Calls for Arrest of Former Union Carbide CEO

Warren Anderson, Union Carbide CEO at the time of the world's worst industrial disaster, has been found living a life of luxury in New York State. He is wanted in India to face charges of culpable homicide over the deaths of 20,000 people since the disaster.

Anderson has been hiding in the U.S. since the 1984 explosion at his company's plant in Bhopal, India, caused the immediate deaths of thousands of people and has resulted in life long suffering for almost 120,000 survivors.

Greenpeace paid Anderson a visit at his U.S. home in August and delivered an arrest warrant. He had been tracked down in a matter of weeks by a UK newspaper. He has been facing charges of culpable homicide and an extradition order from the government of India for the past 11 years. He has never appeared in court to face charges for crimes in Bhopal or even to explain why his company did not apply the same safety standards at its plant in India that it did at a sister plant in West Virginia.

Greenpeace's Casey Harrell personally visited Anderson at his luxury home where he refused to comment on the disaster. He commented,"If Greenpeace can track down India's most wanted, why haven't the U.S. authorities extradited him? Our government has been swift to react to the financial crimes of Enron and WorldCom. Anderson is charged with the deaths of thousands of Indians; shouldn't this be a priority?"

On the night of the disaster, when an explosion at Union Carbide's pesticide plant caused 40 tons of lethal gas to seep into the city of Bhopal, six safety measures designed to prevent a gas leak had either malfunctioned, were turned off or were otherwise inadequate. In addition, the safety siren, intended to alert the community should an incident occur at the plant, was turned off.

Union Carbide responded to the disaster by paying survivors inadequate compensation and abandoning the plant, leaving tons of dangerous toxic chemicals strewn around the site and the people of Bhopal with a toxic legacy that is still causing injury today. In 2001, the company shed its name by merging with Dow Chemical.

Calling on both governments to act swiftly, Ganesh Nochur, of Greenpeace in India stated, "Now that Anderson's address is known, India must immediately and formally push for his arrest and extradition on charges of culpable homicide."