JSE-listed York Timbers has been ordered to pay R450 000, plus interest, in a confiscation order granted to the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) by the Nelspruit Regional Court.
The DEA on Wednesday said the penalty was granted as York had failed to obtain environmental authorisation before widening a forest road in 2007.
The Nelspruit Regional Court granted the confiscation order on April 4.
The DEA explained that the court had determined that the R450 000 was the amount York Timbers had saved by failing to obtain environmental authorisation prior to the start of a listed activity, as required by the National Environmental Management Act.
This was in addition to a fine of R180 000 handed down by the Nelspruit Regional Court after York Timbers pleaded guilty to starting a listed activity without environmental authorisation, the department stated.
Senior State Advocate Kobus van der Walt of the Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority told Engineering News Online that while an exact date for the payment of the R450 000 still had to be set, this was likely to be before the end of April.
The R180 000 fine had likely already been paid, he added.
York Timbers said it was preparing a response to the DEA's statement.
DEA spokesperson Albi Modise said in a statement that, although this type of order, granted under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, has previously been used to deprive offenders of the benefits obtained from wildlife crimes, this is the first successful application for such an order relating to a contravention of environmental impact assessment legislation in South Africa.
York Timbers, which operates a sawmill and plywood manufacturing facility in Mpumalanga, was accused of failing to employ an environmental-assessment practitioner or obtain an environmental authorisation before widening a forest road in 2007.
“When York Timbers eventually did submit an application for such an authorisation, it omitted to inform authorities that it had actually already commenced with the activity more than six months prior to the application,” Modise commented.
The DEA and the then Mpumalanga Department of Agriculture and Land Administration uncovered the contravention following an investigation at York Timbers’ premises.