Judge Abu Bakar Katar set the date after hearing legal arguments today, Berita Harian reported.

“After hearing the oral arguments from the prosecution and defence, the decision on this appeal will be made in three weeks, on June 6,” he said.

Deputy public prosecutors Khairul Azreen Mamat, Abdul Ghafar Ab Latif, Nurliyana R Azmi, and Sharifah Natasha Syed Ahmad appeared for the prosecution, while P Tech Resources Sdn Bhd was represented by lawyers N Subramaniam and S Selvantheran.

P Tech Resources directors Wang Jing Chao and Yap Yoke Liang were also present for the hearing.

Earlier, the prosecution argued that the court should impose a stiffer punishment on P Tech Resources than that meted out by the sessions court.

“Previously, several major national media outlets reported the Johor government’s appeal for a more commensurate punishment.

“Additionally, the affected families were also reported saying that the punishment did not match the suffering they had endured,” the prosecution said.

Meanwhile, the defence objected to the prosecution submitting newspaper clippings as exhibits, arguing that the court should not base its decisions on news reports.

“Referring to reports of dissatisfied victims, there is an ongoing civil lawsuit and their claims of suffering need to be proven in the civil court first,” the defence said.

On Nov 30 last year, lorry driver N Maridass was fined RM100,000 for causing pollution by illegally disposing of oil sludge, a scheduled waste product, in Sungai Kim Kim in 2019.

Meanwhile, P Tech Resources was fined RM40,000 for each of the eight charges under the Environmental Quality (Clean Air) Regulations 2014.

On Dec 4, 2023, the environment department appealed the sentences.

By March 13, 2019, authorities in Pasir Gudang were grappling with more than 2,000 people affected by pollution in Sungai Kim Kim, which also led to the closure of 111 schools in Pasir Gudang.

The incident was traced to toxic waste dumped into the river on March 7, 2019.