JOHOR BARU: A company has seen its fine for air pollution offences doubled from RM40,000 to RM80,000 per charge by the High Court after an appeal by the prosecution.

The prosecution had appealed over lower fines previously imposed by the Sessions Court over the Sungai Kim Kim pollution case.

P Tech Resources Sdn Bhd was ordered to pay a total fine of RM640,000 for eight administrative charges from the initial RM320,000 that was decided by the Johor Baru Sessions Court last year.

Judge Justice Abu Bakar Katar said he granted the prosecution’s appeal for the fine to be increased following arguments from both sides. 

"The court decided to increase the fine from RM40,000 to RM80,000 for each of the eight charges (against the respondent)," he said when delivering the judgment here on Thursday (June 27).

P Tech Resources’s director Yap Yoke Liang was present during the court proceedings.

On Nov 30 last year, P Tech Resources was fined RM40,000 for each of the eight administrative charges under the Environmental Quality (Clean Air) Regulations 2014.

Among the eight administrative offences committed by the company were failure to operate and maintain its air pollution control systems to ensure the components were functioning well, failure to install the relevant equipment to monitor air pollution levels in its premises, and failure to monitor liquid flammable substances.

That same day, lorry driver N. Maridass was fined RM100,000 for causing pollution by illegally disposing of oil sludge, a scheduled waste product, into Sungai Kim Kim in 2019.

The Environment Department appealed these sentences on Dec 4 last year.

Following that, the prosecution appealed to the High Court for a maximum fine of RM100,000 to be imposed on P Tech Resources for each of the eight charges.

When delivering his decision, Justice Abu Bakar said that the prosecution could not depend on Maridass' plea of wrongdoing to relate the respondent’s original offences to the Sungai Kim Kim pollution incident.

"This is because the facts of the case did not state that Maridass released the waste produced from the pyrolysis of old tyres from the respondent’s factory.

"The Session's Court judge at the time of sentencing was not influenced by media coverage about the Sungai Kim Kim case.

"As such, the prosecution (of the appeal) which referred to media reports in asking for a maximum fine was not considered because news clippings are hearsay," he said.

He added that the Sessions Court judge in his earlier judgment had failed to appreciate the purpose of the Environment Quality (Clean Air) Regulations 2014 as enacted by the Parliament.

"The Session's Court had focused its mind on the eight administrative offences committed by the respondent.

"If the Environment Department did not conduct checks on the respondent’s factory, the offence would have taken place continuously and caused bad air pollution for the surrounding residents.

"The Session's Court judge also failed to consider the frequency of air pollution cases that occur in Johor," added Justice Abu Bakar.

Deputy public prosecutors Khairul Azreen Mamat, Abdul Ghafar Ab Latif, Nurliyana R Azmi, and Sharifah Natasha Syed Ahmad appeared for the prosecution, while P Tech Resources Sdn Bhd was represented by lawyers N. Subramaniam and S. Selvantheran.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/06/27/high-court-increases-fine-for-pasir-gudang-company-over-air-pollution-charges