CYBERJAYA – The National Water Services Commission (SPAN) has raised concerns about serious violations of laws by several interlinked factories found to be involved in a Sg Kuang water pollution incident in July.
In revealing findings of a multi-agency inquiry conducted on August 21 and 22, SPAN chairman Charles Santiago said the investigation findings showed that three factories involved in the pollution incident appear to have breached regulations.
Particularly, it was found that locally-owned “Factory B” and “Factory C” had allowed “Factory A” as its sub-tenant to use its business licence without local authorities’ knowledge.
The owners of Factory B and Factory C as the primary tenant had also allowed Factory A, which is operated by a company fully owned by a Chinese national, to use its environmental impact assessment (EIA) report without the knowledge or consent of the Environment Department (DoE).
Highlighting that such dealings regarding “borrowing” official documentation are against existing laws, Santiago said that Factory A’s “high-risk operations” were determined to be the cause of the pollution incident.
“The primary tenant of the premises allowed a sub-tenant (Factory A) to lease the premises, even though both companies are engaged in the same business operations, namely plastic waste recycling.
“There is a possibility that the two businesses are connected, with the primary tenant using the sub-tenant as a proxy to carry out activities that may not be permitted under their business licence,” Santiago told a press conference at SPAN’s headquarters, here, today.
Investigations found that while the chemical leak first began at Factory A, an unlawfully installed culvert, was used to channel waste from Factory A to the compound of the two other factories. The waste was eventually in Sg Lampan Yu, which flows into Sg Kuang, Sg Kundang and Sg Sembah before ending up in Sg Selangor.
It was previously reported that the raw water pollution was caused by the leakage of a chemical known as poly (methacrylic acid) (PMAA) into Sg Kuang, which is a tributary of Sg Selangor.
The pollution incident resulted in an unscheduled water supply disruption affecting approximately 1,141 areas and 1.12 million consumer accounts.
Santiago said that while the court has imposed a punishment on the foreign businessman involved in the case, the local players who rented out their premises and allowed the China national to ride on their business permit and EIA report have yet to be brought to justice.
He noted that the primary tenant and sub-tenant had a three-year tenancy agreement that was inked in 2022.
He also recommended that authorities investigate the money trail of the companies involved for potential offences under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
Lawyer Derek Fernandez, who was also present at the press conference as SPAN’s legal advisor, urged the relevant enforcement agencies to probe the foreign company’s source of funding, questioning how the non-Malaysian director could have executed financial transactions here.
He also said that authorities should establish whether the situation at hand is an isolated incident, or part of a bigger “cartel-like” issue allowed to persist due to lack of action from authorities.
How could DOE not know?
Santiago also said that the Selangor DOE said it “did not know what was happening” at the factories’ because permit renewals are done online.
“We asked the DoE how they could not know about what was happening in the area. They said that since (permit or licence) renewals are done online, they didn’t know what was happening at the premises.
“As such, physical inspections of premises should be conducted for every new application and renewal of business licenses,” he added.
The SPAN chairman urged DOE to conduct more targeted inspections, as there could potentially be other factories in the area conducting similar illegal activities.
“It is also proposed that the Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS) be given the role as a technical agency which will be consulted on environmental management for companies.
“SPAN requests that the state government lead a team consisting of local authorities, the DoE and LUAS to carry out inspections at every factory or business premises involved in plastic waste recycling, specifically at the affected areas as well as at all high-risk areas.”
On July 23, Air Selangor had to temporarily shut down four water treatment plants in the state due to odour pollution – which was later traced back to a recycling factory located at Jalan Kampung Orang Asli Kuang.
The factory owner, a Chinese national known as Huang Gang, was in October convicted under the Environment Quality Act 1974. He was sentenced to three months in jail and slapped with an RM240,000 fine. – December 5, 2024