INDIA: An embarrassed BBC admitted yesterday it had been duped by a man claiming to accept responsibility on behalf of a US multinational for the Union Carbide gas disaster in the Indian city of Bhopal 20 years ago. Rahul Bedi reports from New Delhi
More than 20,000 people died as a result of the gas leak dubbed by environmentalists as the "Hiroshima" of industrial disasters.
After twice running the interview with Mr Jude Finisterra who claimed to be working for Dow Chemical Company that took over Union Carbide three years ago, the BBC later said the report was wrong.
Mr Finisterra, an activist for the Bhopal victims, said Dow Chemical would start a €9 billion fund "to finally at long last fully compensate the victims including the 120,000 who may need medical care for their entire lives", in the interview broadcast from the BBC's Paris bureau. It was carried live on BBC World and subsequently on BBC News 24 and BBC Radio.
"This interview was inaccurate, part of an elaborate deception. The person did not represent the company and we want to make clear that the information he gave was entirely inaccurate," the BBC said.
The accident happened at midnight on December 2nd-3rd, 1984, when the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal disgorged 40 tonnes of lethal methyl isocyanate gas.
After taking over Union Carbide, Dow Chemical insisted that all liabilities regarding the Bhopal disaster has been settled with India by the multinational.
Dow issued a communiqué confirming there had been a hoax. "Dow confirms that there was no basis whatsoever for this report," it said. "Jude Finisterra is neither an employee nor a spokesperson for Dow."
Mr Finisterra, whose identity could not be confirmed, later told BBC's Radio 4 he was part of the group Yes Men, which hoaxes businesses and governments and which has gone after Dow before over Bhopal.
"I was speaking on behalf of Dow in a certain way. I was expressing what they should express," he said. "I have enough connection with Dow as everybody else on the planet. I use many of their products." He said the group would strike again. He said he had heard Bhopal residents broke down in tears when they learned of the report, and that he felt bad about it. "This is an unfortunate result that we did anticipate might happen," he said.
In preparing for reports about the anniversary of the disaster, BBC reporters visited what they thought was Dow's Web site and contacted Finisterra, who was listed there as a company spokesman. He could face civil and criminal legal action if tracked down, legal experts say.