By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, Sept 19: CityONE Megamall and a contractor were charged in court today in relation to the gas explosion that occurred last December
CityONE Megamall director Stephen Long and the main contractor, Borneo Landmark (M) Sdn Bhd, appeared before two different Sessions Court, here.
However, no plea was taken as the charges against both accused were not clear.
Sessions Court Judge Dayang Ellyn Narisa Abang Ahmad fixed Sept 24 for further mention, for the prosecuting officer to prepare the amended charges in English.
Whereas, Sessions Court Judge Marutin Pagan fixed Oct 8 for further mention and for the amended charges to be ready in English.
There are two other accused that will be charged in relation to this case, which is the gas contractor, Sim Nyen Electronic and a sub-contractor Chia Yit Siong.
Charges against these two will be mentioned on Sept 23 in two different Sessions Court.
These cases were brought before the Sessions Courts by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH).
They were charged under The Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994.
As these four cases were mention in four different Sessions Court, the prosecuting officer requested for all four cases to be consolidated as the witnesses and exhibits of all these four cases are similar.
However, the counsels of the accused, JB Singh and Alvin Yong, objected to this as at this moment, the charges are provisional and tentative, therefore the court has no discretion to decide at this moment.
Judge Dayang Ellyn ordered the prosecuting officer to come out with a proper amended charge on the next further mention date (Sept 24) and will decide on the prosecuting officer application to consolidate all four cases.
Both JB Singh and Alvin Yong were representing CityONE Megamall and main contractor Borneo Landmark (M) Sdn Bhd. — DayakDaily
