Four managers of three petrochemical and plastics companies with production facilities at Porto Torres, Sardinia / Italy, have been indicted in a preliminary hearing in Sassari, Sardinia regional court on charges that the companies willingly contaminated the waters surrounding this industrial port. Italian reports say the alleged offenses also include manslaughter. Environmentalists contend that people have died from eating the fish caught in the contaminated waters. The discharges also are said to have polluted the regional drinking water system.

The case against the employees of Eni subsidiary Syndial (Milan; www.syndial.it), Sasol Italy (HQ: Johannesburg / South Africa; www.sasol.com) and the former Ineos Vinyls Italia (Porto Marghera / Italy) has been building since 2003, when reports say activists of the environmental group IRS discovered a hill of toxic waste containing chemicals and heavy metals in the Gulf of Asinara. The criminal investigation by the public prosecutor began in 2006.

If convicted in the trial set to begin on 16 December 2011, the four managers could face sentences of up to 15 years imprisonment. Italian reports say this case is the first court case in Italy in which the charges are intentional pollution.