Minister to bring to court alleged polluters in city

Minister to bring to court alleged polluters in city

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Threatening to charge companies with crimes for polluting rivers
is a relatively new attempt by the central government to prevent
environmental damage.

State Minister for Environment Nabiel Makarim pledged on
Monday that he would get serious about demanding legal punishment
against any company in the country, which dumped untreated
hazardous waste into rivers, especially in and around Jakarta and
other major cities.

"We are serious, although we know that the results of our work
have not significantly deterred businesses from damaging the
environment," Nabiel told reporters in a press conference in his
office.

Nabiel said his ministry had investigated six companies
suspected of polluting Cipinang river, which flows through the
eastern part of the city.

He declined to name the companies as the investigation was
still underway.

Besides Cipinang river, according to the minister, his office
has now been taking samples from a number of rivers across the
country which they suspect, have been polluted by industrial
waste.

He claimed that he could guarantee that the result of the
investigation would be followed up by taking the polluters to
court.

The minister added that his move had received a great deal of
support from the House of Representatives, which had agreed to
increase the budget for the ministry by some 400 percent.

"The legislators said that we are going in the right
direction. The problem is how to get all the violators charged
and tried in a court of law," he added.

Based on data from the City Environment Management Board
(BPLHD), there are over 22,000 businesses in Jakarta, many of
which pollute the 13 rivers in the city, as evidenced by the data
that shows only 65 companies have proper liquid waste treatment
facilities.

On the national level, Sudarsono, an assistant to the minister
for law enforcement, said the ministry began its crack down
against the polluters last year, when five cases were reported to
the prosecutors' offices.

Sudarsono said the state minister's office was currently
investigating 25 cases.

"We set a target to investigate at least 100 suspected cases
next year, if most of those cases reach trial, it could have a
significant deterrent effect on polluters," he added.

Sudarsono said that a case had been decided by the Supreme
Court which sentenced a manager of a company to a year in jail
and fined him Rp 100 million (US$11,628) for dumping untreated
hazardous waste.

The court also ordered the company to pay compensation of Rp
9.6 billion to the state through the state minister's office, he
said.

"The money will be used for promoting law enforcement and for
compensating the people who suffered losses from the
environmental damage," he promised.

In addition to winning the case, Sudarsono also said that six
other cases were currently on appeal at the High Court while six
more had recently been submitted to the prosecutor's offices.

He said 25 more cases had not included those which had been
handled by the environment offices at the regional level.

According to Article 41 of Law No. 23/1997 on the environment,
those damaging the environment can receive a maximum sentence of
10 years in jail and a maximum fine of Rp 500 million.

However, if the damage leads to the death of a person, the
maximum sentence is 15 years in jail and a fine of Rp 750
million.