Court’s arrest warrant for accused Snowie
A sheriff has issued a warrant for the arrest of a former waste tycoon, accused of conniving in the breach of environmental protection legislation.
Euan Snowie failed to appear at Alloa Sheriff Court on Monday to answer allegations that a trucking company he ran, Ochil Services Ltd, repeatedly breached its waste management licence at a site near the River Forth in Alloa.
Depute fiscal Fiona Caldwell told the procedural hearing that she had been “advised”that Snowie, 50, was not in attendance for medical reasons, but said she had“no proof”of any medical condition.
Sheriff Simon Collins said:“Indeed, just an assertion. I’ll grant a warrant.”
He agreed that a trial date set for the end of the month should be kept.
Miss Caldwell said lawyers who had been acting for Snowie withdrew from acting on January 7, but had now emailed saying they might be reinstructed within the next two days.
It is alleged that between February 13, 2015 and May 18, 2016, Ochil Services Ltd – now in liquidation – allowed waste, including plastics, textiles, polythene, polystyrene, insulation material, PVC window frames, waste packaging, and tree branches, to remain on the site, on the Kelliebank Industrial Estate, for longer than the seven days permitted by its licence, that permitted limits on the quantity of waste stored were exceeded, and that run-off from the site was not directed to proper drains.
Snowie, of Kippen, has previously tendered a plea of not guilty to allowing the breaches of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to take place by neglecting to put in place a system to prevent them, or as a result of his “consent or connivance”.
In November, another sheriff issued a boardroom ban forbidding Snowie from holding office as a director of any limited company for nine years.
Sheriff David Mackie heard that in March 2016 he had transferred more than £160,000 worth of vehicles and plant out of Ochil Services Limited, to his agricultural contracting partnership, Euan Snowie Farms to the disadvantage of Ochil Services’creditors, several days after Ochil Services went into liquidation.