The Johor Bahru High Court today ordered an increase in the fine - from RM40,000 per charge to RM80,000 per charge meted out to the culprit behind the air pollution in Pasir Gudang in 2019.
The increase sees P Tech Resources Sdn Bhd (P Tech Resources), which was found guilty of eight charges under the Environmental Quality (Clean Air) Regulations 2014, having to pay a total fine of RM640,000, from the RM320,000 initially imposed by the lower court.
Judge Abu Bakar Katar increased the fine after allowing the prosecution’s counter-appeal against the RM40,000 fine on each count imposed by the Sessions Court.
In the judgment, Bakar said the court held that once P Tech Resources had been offered the eight alternative charges for offences including air pollution, the prosecution could not rely on evidence during the trial relating to the original charge involving the dumping of sediment into the river to appeal for the maximum fine.
The company was also charged with failing to carry out periodic monitoring, ensuring that the air pollution control system is supervised by a competent party as well as failing to equip the premises with equipment to monitor the performance of the air pollution control system.
The judge also said the prosecution could not rely on the guilty plea by lorry driver N Maridass to link the company with the original offence involving the pollution in Sungai Kim Kim because the facts of the case did not state that the release of scheduled waste into the river by Mariada was the result of the pyrolysis process of old tyres from the respondent’s factory.
“The Sessions Court judge when sentencing the respondent was not influenced by the mass media's coverage of the pollution of Sungai Kim Kim.
“Therefore, the action of the prosecution that refers to newspaper excerpts to request the maximum fine cannot be considered because newspaper clippings are just ‘hearsay’,” he said.
Failure to consider several factors
Bakar, however, in his judgment, said the Sessions Court judge failed to appreciate the purpose of the Environmental Quality (Clean Air) Regulations 2014.
“If the Department of Environment does not inspect the respondent’s factory premises, this offence will continue to occur and it will cause severe air pollution to the residents,” he said.
The Sessions Court judge, he said, also failed to consider the frequency of air pollution cases occurring in Johor in addition to failing to take notice of the judgment when imposing a fine on the respondent.
Therefore, the High Court allowed the prosecution’s appeal for all the optional charges involving air pollution and increased the fine from RM40,000 to RM80,000 on each count and the respondent/company’s appeal against the sentence was dismissed.
Deputy public prosecutors Khairul Azreen Mamat and Nurliyana R Azmi appeared for the prosecution while lawyers N Subramaniam and S Selvantheran represented P Tech Resources Sdn Bhd.
On Nov 30 last year, the Sessions Court imposed a maximum fine of RM100,000 against lorry driver N Maridass, for causing pollution by illegally dumping scheduled waste into Sungai Kim Kim in 2019.
Maridass was charged with releasing oil sludge, a scheduled waste listed in the First Schedule of the Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 2005, into the river.
P Tech Resources, which faced eight charges under the Environmental Quality (Clean Air) Regulations 2014, was fined RM40,000 on each count for the pollution in Pasir Gudang.
The cases against Maridass and P Tech Resources were tried together and a total of 38 witnesses were called to testify.
The Sungai Kim Kim pollution broke out in March 2019, affecting the health of over 2,000 people and leading to the closure of 111 schools in Pasir Gudang.
- Bernama
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