JOHOR BARU • Two directors of a used tyre-processing company were yesterday slapped with more charges for polluting.
Singaporean Wang Jin Chao, 34, and his Malaysian partner Yap Yoke Liang, 36, face 15 charges each, to which they pleaded not guilty in front of Sessions Court Judge Jailani Rahman yesterday.
According to the charges, Wang and Yap failed to manage the company's scheduled waste under Rule 3(1) of the Environment Quality Regulations (Scheduled Wastes) 2005 under the Environment Quality Act 1974.
They are alleged to have committed the offence on March 12 at 12.25pm at P Tech Resources, located in Jalan Nibong 2 in the Tanjung Langsat Industrial Area.
The offence carries a fine of not more than RM10,000 (S$3,320) or imprisonment for not more than a year, or both, upon conviction.
The two accused are also alleged to have caused air pollution by failing to carry out regular monitoring under the same rule. They allegedly committed the offence at the same place, time and date.
Earlier, Wang and Yap, along with the company's lorry driver N. Maridass, 35, were on Sunday charged over the dumping of chemical waste into Sungai Kim Kim on March 7. They pleaded not guilty.
That incident prompted the Johor government to shut 111 schools in the Pasir Gudang area to prevent more students from falling sick and becoming hospitalised after inhaling fumes from the chemical spill.
Johor police chief Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd was quoted on Sunday as saying that the police were searching for another Singaporean suspect in his 30s to assist in the probe into the incident.
Datuk Mohd Khalil said state police would be working with their Singapore counterparts to track down the man, the New Straits Times newspaper quoted him as saying.
The missing suspect, a businessman, is believed to be one of the owners of a factory that was involved in dumping toxic waste into the river, he said.
Meanwhile, P Tech Resources also faces 15 charges. The company, represented by Yap and Wang, pleaded not guilty as well.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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