https://www.copyright link/business/energy/peter-bond-faces-more-charges-20190327-p5180jStill trying to find out if it was result of yesterdays court proceedings
Exclusive
Peter Bond faces more charges
Mark LudlowQueensland Bureau Chief
Mar 27, 2019 — 5.11pm
Save
Share
Former Rich Lister Peter Bond is facing more charges over the environmental damage caused by his former company Linc Energy at its controversial underground coal gasification plant in south-west Queensland.
But it is taxpayers who will most likely pick up the bill for remediation of the site.
With Mr Bond and several other former Linc Energy executives facing criminal charges over toxic gas contaminating soil and groundwater on the UGC trial site at Chinchilla between 2007 and 2013, the Department of Environment and Science has confirmed it has charged Mr Bond with two new offences in relation to allegedly breaching his Environmental Protection Order.
Former Linc Energy chief executive Peter Bond was once valued at $450 million. BRW
The EPO required certain works, including the decommissioning of dams and the removal of contaminated soils from the Chinchilla site, as well as Mr Bond providing a bank guarantee of $5.5 million as security for the works.
Mr Bond, who was valued at
$450 million in the 2013 BRW Rich List, is now facing new charges of failing to provide the bank guarantee and a scope of works required under the EPO. Mr Bond is appealing the EPO.
The penalty for an offence under s361 (1) of the Environment Protection Act 1994 is a maximum penalty of $815,937 or five years' imprisonment. The matter is next due in court on May 17.
The new charges are under the Palaszczuk government's
"chain of responsibility" laws, which were introduced after the collapse of Clive Palmer's Queensland Nickel in 2016 as a way of holding business executives accountable for environmental damage caused by their companies.
Last year, Linc Energy was hit with a $4.5 million fine for serious environmental damage, but District Court judge Michael Shanahan noted at the time the fines against Mr Bond's former company were unlikely to get paid.
Linc Energy, which was once valued at $1.1 billion, went into liquidation in May 2016 with debts of $320 million.
Liquidator PPB Advisory was successful in the courts in arguing the now defunct company should not be required to pay the fines.
Lock the Gate spokeswoman Carmel Flint said it was unlikely the Queensland government would recover any funds from Linc Energy to either pay the fine or rehabilitate the site.
"That's why this proceeding against Mr Bond is so significant because the Queensland taxpayer is facing ever-diminishing opportunities to ensure they do not end up footing the bill for this environmental catastrophe," Ms Flint said.
Environmental Defenders Office Queensland chief executive Jo-Anne Bragg said the state's "chain of responsibility" laws were about ensuring companies or individuals could not dodge their corporate responsibilities.
"In this case, the cost to the state in proving the environmental harm in this case and prosecuting Linc Energy over its actions has been enormous. It's time for Peter Bond to pay up," Ms Bragg said.
But if Mr Bond personally can't pay for the environmental clean-up it will be left to the Queensland government, which now has control of the Chinchilla site.
Mr Bond refused to comment when contacted by
The Australian Financial Review on Wednesday.
The former Linc Energy chief executive has previously said he was selling property and assets in Queensland as part of a move out of the state.
He said in 2016 he would not invest in Queensland again,
accusing the state government of having a grudge against him and blaming regulation for killing off the UGC industry, something for which he had been working on for 20 years and in which he had invested $200 million of his own money.
PPB Advisory Queensland managing partner Grant Sparks has been selling off Linc Energy assets to reclaim money for former employees and creditors.
This includes selling Linc Energy's UGC intellectual property to a Chinese company, assets in Uzbekistan, as well as the impending sale of the former company's "shell listing" on the Singaporean Stock Exchange, which is expected to net a few million dollars.
