Copenhagen [Denmark], June 18: Sweden's self-proclaimed "garbage queen" Fariba Vancor has been sentenced to six years in prison for 19 counts of serious environmental crimes, a court near Stockholm ruled on Tuesday.
In one of the largest environmental scandals in Swedish history, seven defendants have been given jail terms, with Vancor handed the longest sentence for illegal waste dumping. Three others were given suspended sentences and fines.
Prosecutors accused the defendants of illegally and recklessly dumping, burying, or using tens of thousands of tons of waste as filler material at 21 sites in central Sweden between 2015 and 2020.
The garbage, dumped by one-heralded waste management company Think Pink, primarily consisted of construction debris.
Vancor and several co-defendants were banned from conducting business for several years and ordered to pay damages estimated at 250 million Swedish kronor ($26 million) to, among others, the municipality of Botkyrka and the city of Vasteras.
Only one of the 11 defendants was acquitted due to the statute of limitations.
The company's founder, chief executive and public face was Fariba Vancor, formerly known as Bella Nilsson.
The company, whose trademark was pink rubbish bags, posed significant risks to human health and the environment, according to presiding judge Niklas Schüllerqvist. The waste management practices were described as severely deficient and flawed. All defendants had denied the charges. The verdict can be appealed to a higher court. (DPA)
Source: Qatar Tribune