The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has withdrawn from prosecuting environmental matters at the parish court level, returning those cases, including part-heard trials, to clerks of courts.

The development emerged Thursday during proceedings in the Rio Cobre pollution case against bauxite company UC Rusal, which trades as Windalco, in the St Catherine Parish Court.

Parish Court Judge Genetta Smikle disclosed that the ODPP had cited administrative challenges in stepping back from those matters at the parish court level.