KUALA LUMPUR – Two company directors have been found not guilty of polluting Sg Selangor by releasing hazardous materials into its tributary Sg Gong in Rawang and causing water disruption in more than one million households.
In ordering their release, Selayang sessions court judge Osman Affendi Mohd Salleh ruled that the prosecution had failed to show credible evidence of the crimes allegedly committed by the duo – Chai Kin Sang, 62 and his son, Chai Wern Teik, 31.
According to lead defence counsel Datuk Seri Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos, the court found that there was no viable proof to show that the accused had disposed or dumped any dangerous substances into the waterways flowing into Sg Gong.
“Instead, testimonies showed that the charged duo did not dispose of any harmful substance into the mentioned waterways.
“As such, the court ruled that both accused are not guilty of causing the pollution of Sg Gong in October 2020.”
The father and son had previously pleaded not guilty when they were charged on November 3, 2020, with two counts of committing mischief by disposing and releasing waste containing hazardous materials into Sg Gong.
On the first count, the two men were alleged to have committed mischief by causing waste products containing hazardous materials from the premises of FG Autoparts Sdn Bhd to be disposed of into a waterway that would flow into Sg Gong.
They were accused of committing the crime at the company premises in Batu Arang between October 17 and 19, 2020.
The charge was framed under Section 430 of the Penal Code relating to mischief by injury to works of irrigation or by wrongfully diverting water and provides an imprisonment for up to 30 years, or a fine, or both if convicted.
On the second count, which was framed under Section 25(1) of the Environmental Quality Act 1974, the duo were jointly charged with releasing waste containing hazardous material without a licence from a similar workshop into a waterway that would flow into the same river, at the same place and time.
The act provides for a maximum fine of RM100,000 or imprisonment for up to five years, or both, if found guilty.
On October 19, 2020, then Selangor state police Criminal Investigations Department chief senior assistant commissioner Datuk Fadzil Ahmat said contamination and eventual odour in the Sg Selangor water was detected, forcing the closure of Air Selangor’s water treatment plants.
The pollution led to dry taps for some 1,196,457 accounts in 1,292 areas in the Klang Valley, compounding an earlier supply disruption that was announced due to a burst pipe. – The Vibes, May 22, 2023
