BP official on rig invokes 5th Amendment, another too sick to testify

After reports that a BP "company man" overruled workers for the oil rig company Transocean on a key safety procedure prior to an explosion which set the rig aflame and sinking into the Gulf of Mexico, a senior BP official that was on the rig when it exploded has told investigators he will invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to testify in the case. "

One of BP's company men on the Deepwater Horizon when it exploded, Robert Kaluza, has declined to testify before the investigative panel in Kenner, citing his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself, the Coast Guard said," according to the New Orleans Times Picayune. "Kaluza was scheduled to testify Thursday in the joint U.S. Coast Guard and Minerals Management Services hearings in Kenner."

The Louisiana paper also said a second BP official, Donald Vidrine, told the Coast Guard he couldn't testify Thursday because of "illness."

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Hmmmm, interesting

Odd how the 2nd official just happened to get sick just in time to avoid testifying.

reply to post by brainwrek


Don Vidrine is alleged to be the company man on the DWH.
Second line.

Right, so if most of us ordinary folks just call in sick to avoid a sticky situation, we are usually fired, especially since most of us work average jobs with plenty of people to fill our shoes if the boss doesn't want us getting ideas about sick days, lol.


Ever waited tables, BP executives? No, I didn't think so. How could they possibly care about people they can never, ever understand?


It's evident they do not understand what a slap in the face this is to the US and the thousands of living and 11 dead victims of their negligence and attitude of superiority that runs this deep, even deeper than the well they failed to guard or maintain.

If it's so valuable, why were they sooooo sloppy? Can anyone tell me? For people who care only about profit, they seem amazingly short-sighted.

Is there a reason why an American company could not drill an American well for American consumers? Maybe they would act a bit more appropriately, more sympathetically, and at least understand how not to insult their victims in the media....thanks in part to the Exxon Valdez experience, which made a lot of oil executives and those of related businesses quite a bit more fearful and careful, not a bad thing.

the bp people on the rig that overruled necessary safety procedures acted grossly negligent, which is a crime. i think time will show, that those guys will have to spend some time behind bars.