SINGAPORE: A Singapore shipping company told AFP on Tuesday (Sep 23) it will refuse to pay Sri Lankan court-ordered damages of US$1 billion for causing that country's worst case of environmental pollution. The ship was refused permission by ports in Qatar and India to offload the leaking nitric acid before it arrived in Sri Lankan waters. Tonnes of microplastic granules from the ship inundated an 80km stretch of beach along Sri Lanka's western coast. Sri Lanka's Supreme Court in July ordered the company to pay Colombo an "initial" US$1 billion in damages within a year, with the first tranche of US$250 million to be paid by Tuesday. It also ordered the company "to make such other and further payments" in the future as the court may direct.