The Sun 04-05-05
SHAH ALAM: Four developers of Sections U10 and U11, near the Bukit Cahaya Seri Alam Agriculture Park, were fined between RM2,000 and RM50,000 by the Sessions Court today.
They had pleaded guilty to breaching the conditions set out by the authorities when carrying out land development on the sites. They requested for a lenient sentence and promised not to repeat the offences.
Judge Suraya Othman imposed a RM50,000 fine each on Ecoasli Development Sdn Bhd and Lebar Daun Development Sdn Bhd, a RM30,000 fine on Tetuan Tudong Emas (M) Sdn Bhd and a RM2,000 fine on Tengku Shahrudin Sdn Bhd.
She said the penalty should be seen as a lesson by them to respect the law and not be complacent by believing that the authorities would not take action if they failed to abide by the conditions or laws.
The developers should repent after being fined because the court did not commit their directors to jail, she said.
Ecoasli and Lebar Daun were charged under Section 34A(7) of the Environment Quality Act 1974 which carries a maximum jail term of RM100,000 or five years' jail, or both.
Ecoasli was accused of breaching the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) approval conditions dated May 17, 2000 and failing to submit the Environment Management Plan to the Department of the Environment (DOE) and put out a copy of the EIA report for public viewing.
The offences were committed in December last year. Ecoasli was represented in court by its director, Zakaria Yaakob.
Lebar Daun was accused as Ecoasli's accomplice. The firm was represented by its director, Noor Azhar Mohd Nordin.
Tudong Emas was charged with carrying out land development works without approval as required by Section 70A(1) of the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974 between June 2004 and Feb this year.
The offence, under Section 70A(9) of the Act, provides for a maximum fine of RM50,000 or five years' jail, or both. Tudong Emas was represented by Abdul Aziz Salleh and counsel AdnanRahim.
Tengku Shahrudin was charged with breaching the land works conditionsspecified under Section 14(b) of the Land Works By-Laws (Shah Alam City Council) 1990 between June 2004 and Feb this year.
Offences under Section 18(b) of the by-laws carry a maximum fine of RM2,000. The company was represented by its director, Gan Boon Kat, and counsel Chong Choh Yoon.
The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Salehuddin Saidin, assisted by Nurhuda Salam of the DOE and Surya Wati Shawal and Sofian Abdul Rahman of the Shah Alam City Council.
Salehuddin said developers had of late often carried out development projects without taking into consideration the environment until the media highlighted the problem.
Meanwhile another developer, Sin Heap Lee Development Sdn Bhd, represented by its director Au Lai Koong, pleaded not guilty to the chargeof not following the EIA approval conditions.
Judge Suraya set June 13 for mention of the case.
On March 11, three other developers of the area, Selangor State Development Corporation, Restu Mantap Sdn Bhd and Dacing Kota Sdn Bhd, were fined RM330,000, RM250,000 and RM230,000 respectively by the same court after they pleaded guilty to developing land without approval.
