Judge rules that BP built 17 petrol stations without clearance, choosing to build first and ask forgiveness later.
BP Southern Africa has been found guilty of failing to fulfil its duty to protect the environment when it built or upgraded a number of petrol stations without relevant authorisation.
Further, the advocacy group said the oil and gas multinational had not obtained authorisation from the minister of environmental affairs or the relevant delegated authority before it commenced with construction of the filling stations.
“It is the very first time in history that a private prosecution [was] given leave to proceed in the high court and as such it has given effect to the objective stated in the preamble to Nema that the act must enable civil society to enforce environmental laws,” said Gideon Erasmus, the lawyer representing Uzani.While the 17 petrol stations were constructed from 1998, BP only began the process of getting authorisations in 2004, after they had been built.
Spilg noted that when challenged on his claim that post-construction approval was inferior, the expert “stood his ground and BP did not attempt to bring contradictory expert testimony”. The judge dismissed BP’s arguments for two reasons: Firstly, he said, they were not put to the expert witness. Secondly, “the untested say-so of BP during an amnesty period can hardly be described as sufficient evidence”.BP also argued that the process was unfair as it had already paid fines when it applied for post-authorisation.
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