NEW YORK, Reuter: The Indian governments U.S. lawyers today challenged Union Carbide to prove its charge that the deadly gas leak in Bhopal which killed more than 2,000 people in December, 1984, was the deliberate act of a disgruntled employee.

If they are really serious about their story they should prove it instead of making vague statements and they should give the name of their suspect to the pro per Indian authorities, Michael Cries, head of the Minneapolis, Minnesota, law firm appointed by the Indian government, said.

Cites said he did not believe the allegation. There is no factual basis to support this story. And let’s face it, Union Carbide is not a comp any with a long record of credibility, he told Reuters by phone from Minneapolis.

He said Carbides charges were nothing new. Company officials had been talking about the possibility of sabotage since a few days after the disaster.

The first hint of wrongdoing by a company employee was made by the company chairman, Warren Anderson, on his return from a fact-finding mission to Bhopal shortly after the disaster which also injured 200,000 people.

The latest allegation was first made to a London based reporter who was on an all-expenses paid trip to the United States to see Carbide plants.

They used this reporter. They paid for her to come over here and then they deliberately leaked their story to her, Cries said.

After the story appeared in Lon don, a statement was issued from the company’s headquarters in Danbury, Connecticut at the week end which said Carbides own investigations showed the leakage of 40 tons of deadly methyl is cognate (MIC) gas into the air was deliberate act by a disgruntled employee who had ample opportunity to inject a substantial amount of water into the (MIC) storage tank, which caused the massive gas leakage.

Cries said Carbide could not hope to reduce or in any way influence the negligence case against them by putting forward the allegation.

When you have an ultra-hazardous activity on your property if is your responsibility to make sure it doesn’t cause harm in this: case that the gas doesn’t escape:

Whether it is a deliberate act or otherwise, the simple fact remains that MIC was stored on the premises and it shouldn’t have been. There was absolutely no reason for MIC to be stored there. Carbides legal responsibility doesn’t change because of their story, Cries said.

He said Carbide may have hoped to influence criminal proceedings in India in which a number of

Senior employees of Union Car bide India, Ltd., the subsidiary which operated the Bhopal plant, have been accused of criminal negligence.

But it is more likely an attempt to use the press to paint Union Carbide in a more favorable light think that’s wapitis. They are saying Come on, were not such bad guys after all,” he said.

A Union Carbide spokesman refused to comment today, saying, “We stand by our statement and beyond that we have no further comment to make”.

Article extracted from this publication >> August 15, 1986