M'sian logging firm refuses to pay Guyana fine

M'sian logging firm refuses to pay Guyana fine
Malaysiakini.com
Oct 25, 07 10:32am

A Malaysian timber company has refused to pay a US$480,000 (RM1.6
million) fine to the government of Guyana, which accused it of
under-reporting the number of logs harvested from local firms.

"We wouldn't pay until we have all the due process," Barama Company
Limited chief executive Peter Ho told AFP. He added that current
business and investment plans would be shelved until the current issue
is resolved.

Though the company has a stockpile of logs, Ho warned that both the
fines and suspension of the forest concessions could force the company
to cut production and retrench some of its workers.

He could not say how soon workers would be retrenched because the
company was still assessing the impact of the rulings by Guyana's
forest regulator, the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC).

The Malaysian-owned firm has been operating in the northwestern Amazon
jungle of the impoverished South American country at least 15 years.

BCL appealed to the GFC to hire internationally-recognised auditors,
forestry consultants and other experts to investigate the issues, and
determine the breaches, fines and suspension in a fair manner.

"The penalties imposed by GFC are severe, unclear, and in our opinion,
arbitrary," the company said in a a statement.

Illegal logging

The company, however, conceded there were a number of anomalies
including unintentional mixing of tree tags between areas, and
harvesting in areas where permits were still being processed.

But it denied the company did not declare to the GFC all the logs
harvested.

The GFC said its probe found that BCL declared less logs than it
harvested in July from privately owned Guyanese companies.

Guyana's agriculture minister, Robert Persaud, said he was
dissatisfied with the responses given by BCL and the three Guyanese
timber companies and he "further directed that all the prescribed
sanctions be imposed immediately."




According to environment group Greenpeace, Barama won an investment
contract, giving the company rights to log 1,690,000 hectares - about
eight percent of the country - in the northwest of Guyana, near the
Venezuelan border.

Greenpeace 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 further five years for the export
of raw logs, sawn lumber, veneer and processed plywood.

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