Malaysia Swiss bank under fire for deal with timber company

http://www.nit.com.au/News/story.aspx?id=11029

The logo of Swiss banking company Credit Suisse next to the Swiss
flag. The company has come under fire for advising controversial
company Samling in its stock market flotation. Samling has been
accused of harming Indigenous peoples in Guyana and Malaysia
Swiss bank under fire for deal with timber company
Issue 129 - 17 May 2007

By Amy McQuire

SWITZERLAND

Issue 129, May 17, 2007: SWISS banking giant Credit Suisse has been
pressured to pay $10 million (7.0 million euros) to Indigenous peoples
in Malaysia and Guyana for advising a timber company in its stock
market flotation in February.

The $10 million was requested in a meeting held in Zurich, Switzerland
in early May between environmentalist group, the Bruno Manser Fonds
(BMF), Credit Suisse and Samling Global.

"We are asking that Credit Suisse give back the profits generated by
the stock exchange debut, 10 million dollars, to the Indigenous peoples
harmed by Samling," Lukas Straumann from BMF was reported as saying by
the Agence France-Presse.

The company was an advisor to controversial Malaysian company Samling,
which has been targeted for large-scale illegal logging in the South
American country of Guyana and for destroying rainforest in the
Malaysian state of Sarawak.

The company had previously lost a certification from the Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC) on a forest concession in Guyana because it
did not comply with the standards set.

In the past, Samling has also been criticised for its operations in
Papua New Guinea and Cambodia.

Samling was listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in February and
subsequently received a market capitalisation of US$1.2 billion.

Credit Suisse was the global co-ordinator for the listing and was
joined by the British HSBC and the Australian bank Macquarie.

This came despite Credit Suisse stating that it would abide by forest
sector guidelines that would have excluded deals with companies with
past histories like Samling.

The BMF states that Samling controls about 3.9 million hectares of
tropical rainforest in Sarawak and Guyana.

"For years Samling has destroyed the livelihood of the Penan people (in
Sarwak in Malaysia)... If nothing happens, the last remaining pristine
forests will be cleared very soon," Mr Straumann says in a statement on
the BMF website.

Janette Bulkan, from Yale University's School of Forestry and
Environmental Studies is also quoted on the website as saying that the
company is involved in illegal logging in Guyana.

"It is clear from the IPO (Initial Public Offering) prospectus
distributed by Credit Suisse that the Samling subsidiary Barama is
claiming harvesting rights over 400,000 hectares of tropical forests
outside its own concessions. This practice is illegal because it
violates the forestry laws of Guyana," Ms Janette said.

Concerns were also raised by BMF over the clearing of a three-year
blockade set up by the Malaysian Indigenous people Penan in February
this year.

"We are slowly dying," a representative of the Penan people told a
press conference of Malaysian journalists.

The international organisation BankTrack which aims to track the
operations of the private financial sector stated that the company had
"already destroyed large parts of the Penan's native lands".

"By cooperating with Samling on the occasion of its listing on the
stock exchange, Credit Suisse, HSBC and Macquarie are making themselves
part of the irresponsible and destructive logging practices and human
rights violations of the Samling group," the organisation says on its
website.

Samling rejected the claims in a statement.

"Accusations raised in relation to Samling Global's destruction of
forests in Sarawak and Guyana are categorically false," the company
says.

"Many Indigenous groups have benefited from Samling Global's presence
in the forest because we have been mindful to integrate and accommodate
community activities within our operations."

Although environmental groups still accuse Samling of encroaching on
the rights of Indigenous people in Malaysia and Guyana, Credit Suisse
is refusing to accommodate demands.

A Credit Suisse spokesman told the Agence France-Presse that
investigations had found that Samling had operated within relevant
laws.

A further meeting between the two companies and representative
Indigenous people had been planned at the time of press.