A workshop owner has blamed his workers for spilling oil into a river which caused a water disruption affecting more than a million people in the Klang Valley this past weekend..
The owner, identified only as Mok, claimed that his workers were negligent and irresponsible and that he had sacked four of his employees over the incident.
"When the Department of Environment checked my workshop, my workers unclogged the drain. But by unclogging the drain, the diesel flowed into the main drains before seeping into the river," Mok claimed.
He said the used oil had first leaked from his lorries and flowed into the drain inside the workshop's compound. The 55-year-old businessman claimed that he repaired his own lorries at the workshop located on the 1.21 hectare of agricultural land.
"I feel wronged as the blame has been placed entirely on my shoulders," Mok told The Star, claiming that it was the first time such an incident had occurred in the 13 years he had been operating his business.
"Why would I deliberately pour the oil into the river when I could have sold it? I was shocked when I read the news that the spillage was the cause of the water disruption which affected millions," he said.
Mok claimed that he was a sub-contractor for the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) and his lorries were used to transport solid and industrial waste. He also repaired roll-on/roll-off containers and waste compactors at his premises.
"The two tankers which the DoE had seized as evidence were actually used to store the diesel which my workers had tried to clean up from the drain," Mok said, while also denying claims by authorities that his operation was illegal.
"There is no need to apply for a licence from the authorities to operate as I am not conducting any business activities there. I'm only repairing my own lorries, it's not as if I'm running a business to repair lorries," he said. Mok denied claims that he had been collecting waste engine oil and reprocessing it, as stated by the local municipal council.
He said he would be meeting with MPS representatives today to discuss the next course of action and also plans to lodge a police report to explain his side of the story.
It had earlier been reported that Selangor state secretary Datuk Mohammed Khusrin Munawi planned to take the strongest possible action against the culprit responsible for spilling diesel into Sungai Selangor. One possibility authorities are exploring is seizing the land on which the business in located.
Mohd Azizi Mohd Zain of MPS had alleged that the owner had been collecting waste engine oil and reprocessing it, adding authorities had seized 20 items which consisted mainly of heavy machinery.
The council also claimed that the owner had previously been issued 14 compounds totaling RM34,000.
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