The third state witness in the Freesoul Real Estate Development (Fiji) PTE Ltd trial told the court that she thinks the Environmental Impact Assessment report was overlooked by processing environmental officers and the committee that was appointed to review the EIA report.
The third state witness is Sandeep Singh who is the Director of Environment.
Singh told the court that she thinks the EIA was overlooked because when Freesoul submitted the screening application, it had only Wacia in Malolo but when the EIA was submitted by Freesoul consultants, it also included Qalilawa in Malolo.
She says the landowning unit only gave consent for Wacia.
When questioned on why the prohibition notice did not cover the second area which is Qalilawa, Singh says everything had Wacia and there was no application made to even amend the screening application to include Qalilawa.
When questioned by Magistrate Puamau, Singh says she came to know about Qalilawa when they were amending the charges for Freesoul.
Singh says that Qalilawa was under Natadola Investment and later transferred to Dickson International of Freesoul.
She says on the 24th of December 2018, they issued a conditional EIA approval. Singh says they then found out that 20 of the 55 conditions under that approval was not complied with by Freesoul. She says they gave another prohibition notice in April 2019.
Singh says as of today, Freesoul does not have any approval to continue resort development works at Malolo.
The trial continues before Suva Magistrate, Seini Puamau.
The charges against Freesoul relate to the failure to comply with a Prohibition Notice issued by the Director of Environment in June 2018 and carrying out of resort development activity in Malolo without an approved Environmental Impact Assessment Report.
Under the Environment Management Act 2005, if convicted, the company and its directors face fines of up to $750,000 or a term of imprisonment of up to 10 years, or both.
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