A Malaysian plantation manager was sentenced to a year's jail and fined more than RM500,000 by a court in Riau, Indonesia, for a fire in his plantation that caused haze in neighbouring countries.

Singapore newspaper The Straits Times reported today that the fine imposed on Danesuvaran KR Singam of ADEI Plantation, a subsidiary of Kuala Lumpur-Kepong Bhd, was to repair the environmental damage caused.

"The defendant was negligent in his supervisory role over the estate.

"He should have actively prevented irresponsible parties from slipping into the estate and setting the fires," presiding judge Donovan Kusumo Bhuwono said.

Prosecutors, as reported by the daily, sought for a five-year sentence for the 52-year-old Danesuvaran.

Following the conviction, both Danesuvaran and prosecution plan to appeal the verdict before the higher court.