Guyana fines M'sian logging firm RM1.8 mil - Malaysiakini.com

Guyana fines M'sian logging firm RM1.8 mil - Malaysiakini.com
Oct 24, 07 10:20am
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/73908

Guyana has fined a Malaysian timber company more than US$530,000 (RM1.8
million) for allegedly under-reporting the number of logs it bought
from Guyanese firms.

The Guyanese government said forestry regulators had uncovered the
alleged false reporting by Barama Company Limited, which is 80% owned
by Malaysian logging giant Samling.

The Malaysian-owned firm has been operating in the northwestern Amazon
jungle of the impoverished South American country for more than 20
years.

According to environment group Greenpeace,Baramawon an investment
contract, givingthe companyrights to log 1,690,000 hectares - about
eight percent of the country - in the northwest of Guyana near the
Venezuelan border,).
Barama is wholly owned joined venture incorporated in Guyana between
Samling Strategic Corporation of Malaysia (80%) and Sunkyong Limited of
Korea (20%).
Greenpece said that Barama has a 25-year logging licence, automatically
renewable for another 25 years, with a five-year tax holiday
automatically renewable for a furtherfive years for the export of raw
logs, sawn lumber, veneer and processed plywood.

Large-scale breaches

"They (BCL) entered into arrangements with other concession-holders and
the products that came from those were under-declared," Jaime Hall, a
spokesman for the Guyana Forestry Commission, told AFP.

The forestry commission said in a statement that two of its field
officers who were stationed in the jungle area were dismissed because
they had contributed to the alleged breaches.

Hall said the regulator had detected alleged irregularities that led to
the uncovering of the alleged large-scale breaches involving three
concessions.

Barama's managing director, Peter Ho, refused to immediately comment on
the allegations and the penalties.
He said the company would issue a statement soon.

Barama's parent company, Samling, has been criticised by environment
groups for its logging practices both in Malaysia and overseas.