FOUR brothers arrested for allegedly polluting a river that caused water supply disruptions across the Klang Valley earlier this month were charged at the Selayang Sessions Court today.

Also charged was a workshop manager of the brothers’ machinery maintenance yard in Rawang, the New Straits Times reports.

The four brothers were named in court as Yip Kok Wai, 53, Yip Kok Mun, 58, Yip Kok Kun, 50, and Yip Kok Weng, 60, and are the company directors of Yip Chee Seng & Sons Sdn Bhd.

The manager is Ho Voon Leong, 59.

All five pleaded not guilty to the charge of “mischief by injury to works of irrigation” and to discharging scheduled waste in the environment leading to the pollution without licence.

Their offence was allegedly committed at the premises of the workshop in Rawang, in Gombak, Selangor, between September 2 and 3.

Bail was not granted and case mention has been set for October 27.

Pollution from the workshop entered Sg Gong, which then caused pollution in Sg Selangor and led to the shutdown of four treatment plants. 

The closure of the plants disrupted water supply to more than 1.2 million accounts across the Klang Valley for four days, before supply was restored in stages.

Selangor exco in charge of the environment Hee Loy Sian said during the episode that the workshop, which serviced heavy machinery, allowed used machine oil to flow into the river, instead of storing them properly as required. – September 15, 2020.