PASIR GUDANG, Dec 16 — The victims of the Sungai Kim Kim toxic pollution are prepared to consider an out-of-court settlement for their RM30 million civil lawsuit after experiencing a delay of nearly five years.

The lawyer for the Sungai Kim Kim Toxic Gas Victims and Pollution Action Committee, Datuk Kamarudin Ahmad, who represents the 42 plaintiffs, said the trial was supposed to have taken place in 2020 but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said the trial is now scheduled for Jan 22 to 24 next year at the Johor High Court.

"Yes, we do have a party helping and working on an out-of-court settlement. Five years is just too long to wait for a civil matter.

"So we will see if the state government can settle it out-of-court. We welcome it because then we can avoid a time-consuming trial process,” he said at a press conference, here today.

Before the press conference, Kamarudin held a briefing with more than 30 victims and their family members who were involved in the lawsuit.

Previously, it was reported that the committee had filed a civil suit in July 2019 against 12 defendants, which included the Johor state government and Menteri Besar as well.

On Nov 30, a lorry driver was fined a maximum of RM100,000 for causing toxic pollution by illegally disposing of scheduled waste in Sungai Kim Kim in 2019.

P Tech Resources Sdn Bhd, which faced eight charges under the Environmental Quality (Clean Air) Regulations 2014, was also fined RM40,000 for each count, amounting to RM320,000 in total.

The Sungai Kim Kim toxic pollution incident that occurred in March 2019, shocked the nation at the time because it affected more than 2,000 people and led to the closing of 111 schools in Pasir Gudang. — Bernama