A businesswoman who styled herself because the “Queen of Trash” has gone on trial in Sweden accused of illegally dumping mountain’s of waste, within the nation’s greatest ever environmental crime case.
Bella Nilsson is one in every of 11 individuals charged with “aggravated environmental crime”.
She was chief govt of waste administration firm NMT Suppose Pink, which is accused of dumping or burying 200,000 tonnes of waste in 21 areas between 2015 and 2020.
Attorneys for Ms Nilsson who’s now known as Fariba Vancor, and one other former chief govt Leif-Ivan Karlsson say they deny any wrongdoing.
Coming into Attunda district courtroom north of Stockholm, Ms Nilsson refused to reply reporters’ questions.
Prosecutors stated the best way the corporate mismanaged the waste led to dangerous ranges of carcinogenic chemical compounds, lead, arsenic and mercury being launched into the air, soil and water.
In a single incident, a Suppose Pink waste pile near a nature reserve burned for 2 months after spontaneously combusting.
Ms Nilsson has beforehand informed Swedish media that her firm acted consistent with the legislation.
Prosecutors stated that NMT Suppose Pink – which went bankrupt in 2020 when Bella Nilsson was arrested – had “no intention or capacity to deal with [the waste] consistent with environmental laws”.
The best way the garbage was discarded on the websites endangered the “well being of people, animals and vegetation”, they added.
Suppose Pink was employed by constructing corporations, municipalities and personal people, to get rid of all the things from constructing supplies, electronics, metals, plastics, wooden, tyres and toys. However it left the piles “unsorted” and deserted, in response to prosecutors.
All 11 defendants have denied wrongdoing. They embody Bella Nilsson’s ex husband Thomas Nilsson, whose lawyer stated that as chief govt earlier than 2015 he had was not in cost when the offences have been dedicated.
A preliminary investigation into the scandal ran to 45,000 pages.
Prosecutor Anders Gustafsson argues that in addition to dumping waste, the defendants used falsified paperwork to mislead authorities and generate profits which was used for personal functions.
A number of municipalities are searching for damages of 260m kronor ($25.4 million) for cleansing up the mountains of waste in addition to decontaminating the websites.
Botkyrka council, south of Stockholm, has sought 125m kronor in damages, having spent excess of that merely on eradicating the waste.
One hearth in Kagghamra compelled mother and father to maintain their kids indoors for miles round due to poisonous smoke fumes.