Man says he was told to hide truth

SAVANNAH - Don't tell the Imperial Sugar Co. board of directors how dangerous the company's Port Wentworth refinery is.

That's what a former Imperial executive says his bosses told him before the plant blew up last year.

"Every time I had an opportunity to speak frankly, I was ... muzzled," former vice president Graham H. Graham said.

A Feb. 7, 2008, inferno at the plant killed 14 people and injured more.

Mr. Graham said in two sworn statements that he was ordered to withhold facts from the board.

Not so, said Imperial spokesman Steve Behm, He said Mr. Graham is "contradicted by witnesses and documents," though he didn't identify either.

Mr. Graham testified Oct. 14 in connection with civil lawsuits against the company and on April 30 in a federal case.

The federal government wants to fine Imperial nearly $8.8 million for alleged safety violations at Port Wentworth and at its plant in Gramercy, La.

Mr. Graham was a new hire when he first visited the plant in mid-November 2007 and faced what he described as a daunting array of safety hazards.

Among them were buildups of highly flammable sugar dust and serious electrocution hazards. He fired the plant manager during his first week on the job.

Mr. Graham testified -- as he did last July before a U.S. Senate panel -- that the company hindered his efforts to make the plant safer.

He said pressure on him to quit criticizing refinery conditions mounted as a January 2008 board of directors meeting approached.

"I was told specifically not to give them a critical assessment for the plants," he said.

That order, he said, was from John Sheptor, then Imperial's chief operating officer and soon to take over as president and chief executive officer.

He said Mr. Sheptor rebuked him for describing plant conditions during a meeting with company sales people. He also said Mr. Sheptor ordered him to deliver gift certificates to Port Wentworth supervisors whom Mr. Sheptor said he had offended.

Warnings to tone down his criticisms continued at a dinner with board members the night before its meeting, Mr. Graham said.

He said board member Gaylord Coan sat next to him and told him to "temper ... my enthusiasm toward fixing these issues at the plant."

Mr. Graham said he didn't give the board a frank presentation.

"I was being coached to give a different version of the facts compared to how I really saw them," he said.

Mr. Behm said Mr. Graham "was under consistent and frequent direction to improve safety, was supported in his efforts, and he was reporting positive results.

"That Mr. Graham claims otherwise is not particularly remarkable, given that Mr. Graham has provided diametrically opposing testimony with regard to almost every issue in this case."

Mr. Graham testified that conditions at the plants improved, but not enough to make them safe. Among other things, he said, the Port Wentworth plant didn't have an emergency escape plan or a working fire alarm before the disaster. The company has declined to confirm or deny this.

"It's time to stop playing games," said Mark Tate, an attorney for a group of plaintiffs suing the company over the disaster. "It's time for the families of the people who died to know the truth."

Neither Mr. Sheptor nor Mr. Coan returned a telephone call each to seek comment.

Paul Curnin, lawyer for a committee the board has set up to investigate the disaster, declined to comment.

Board of directors Chairman James Gaffney did not return a call for comment.

Imperial lawyers and Mr. Tate are wrangling over whether Mr. Graham's Oct. 14 testimony can be used as evidence in the lawsuits. State Court Judge Hermann Coolidge has not ruled on the matter.