Emitting excessive exhaust fumes: Man fined RM10,000
Published on: Friday, January 15, 2021
By: Jo Ann Mool
Credit: Pixabay.com.
Kota Kinabalu: A 54-year-old man was slapped with a fine of RM10,000 or six months jail by the Sessions Court on Thursday for emitting excessive exhaust fumes from his vehicle, four years ago.Chua Kok Lip, a paddy field supervisor, was found guilty and convicted by Sessions Court Judge Elsie Primus, who delivered her decision at the end of defence stage.
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Elsie in delivering her decision, held that the court was satisfied that the prosecution had prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
Chua, driver of a light truck was found guilty of emitting exhaust fumes into the air with a density of 98.9 percent from the exhaust pipe, which was tested under free acceleration test with a smoke metre and that it exceeded the 50 per cent of the maximum density of smoke specified in Regulation 11 (1) of the Environmental Quality Regulations (Control of Emissions from diesel engines) 1996 without any licence under Section 22 (1) of the Environmental Quality Act 1974.
Chua had committed the offence at 10.16am on Aug 10, 2017 at KM5, Jalan Kota Belud-Kota Kinabalu, in Kota Belud.
He was charged under Section 22 (1) of the Environmental Quality Act 1974, and punishable under Section 22 (3) of the same Act which provides for a fine of up to RM100,000 or up to five years or both and to a further fine of up to RM1,000 a day for every day that the offence is continued after a notice by the Director General requiring him to cease the act specified has been served on him.
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Counsel Jo Anne Jameson, who represented Chua on pro bono basis, applied for a lower fine be imposed on the grounds among others that the offence was a victimless case and that Chua’s income had been badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jo Anne said that Chua’s wife also started a small bakery business from home to help Chua support their family and added that Chua has two children.
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Prosecuting officer Hashim Awang together with Norhazwan Norizan from the Environmental Department, pressed for a deterrent sentence as a lesson to Chua and the public not to commit similar offence in the future.
The prosecution also submitted statistics of court’s decisions on three different companies that committed similar offence.
Elsie in meting out the sentence held that the court took note of the statistics referred by the prosecution and said that the court distinguished the cases referred as they involved companies and not individuals.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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