A report from an environmental non-governmental organisation in Papua New Guinea has accused a Malaysian timber consortium of illegal logging in the guise of building a road in the country.
Greenpeace Papua New Guinea, in its April 2002 report, said the controversial Kiunga-Aiambak road project was "nothing but a ploy" for the Malaysian-owned company Concord Pacific to log thousands of hectares of the island's rainforests.
The report titled "Partners in Crime: Malaysian loggers, timber markets and the politics of self-interest in Papua New Guinea"claimed that the project, spearheaded by a number of high-ranking PNG officials and a Malaysian, Philip Lee — who is Concord Pacific's general manager — was not "lawful".
"The seven-year project has had extensive and well-documented environmental, economic and social consequences, including the loss of the forest resource itself, the devastation of traditional food sources and the non-payment of millions of kina [PNG's currency] in revenue owed to local landowners," said the report posted on the NGO website recently.
The NGO claimed that the consortium has since exported RM60 million worth of logs, and yet there is no functional road in the area.
Initiated in 1995, the Kiunga-Aiambak road project is located in the heart of the country's largest tracts of ancient rainforest, the Western Province.
In 1995, the then Papua New Guinea's forest minister, Tim Neville, issued a permit known as a 'timber authority' to a company called Paiso Ltd, which professed to be a 'landowner company' representing the local landowners in the region.
The 'timber authority' is a legal instrument that allows its holder to fell trees 40m on either side of a centre-line to clear a way for road construction.
Different story
In theory, it was a licence for Paiso to construct a road between the small township of Kiunga and the village of Aiambak. However according to the NGO, the reality was very different.
Paiso was not a company owned by or representing local landowners.
According to the Greenpeace report, just two people owned it — Lee, who is also a major shareholder of Concord Pacific, and a Papua New Guinean called David Kaya.
The company has a paid-up share capital of just 20 kina (about US$5), the report added.
Despite the clear prohibition in the Papua New Guinea Forest Act against transferring rights under a 'timber authority', the company immediately subcontracted the 'construction work' to Concord Pacific, which is controlled by Sarawak timber tycoon Hiew Teck Seng of Samling Strategic Corporation.
Forests in Sarawak
.Hiew and his Samling group of companies now control around 1.5 million hectares of forest in Sarawak and have additional forest lands in Guyana and Cambodia.
"Over the last seven years, the so-called road-building project has yielded over 600,000 metres of logs with a declared export value of more than US$60 million (RM228 million), mainly exported to Japan and China," said the report.
"After seven years of logging, however, there is no functional road. Moreover, the logging looks set not only to continue, but also to expand even deeper into the heart of Papua New Guinea's ancient forests," it added.
The report also alleged that a number of individuals within the logging companies and the PNG government let personal interests override their professional responsibilities when it comes to making decisions of national importance.
This situation, claimed Greenpeace, is further exacerbated by the inaction of government officials whose jobs would be threatened if they were to challenge the status quo .
Five different passports
In the case of the Kiunga-Aiambak project, such individuals included four ministers for forests, a deputy prime minister, a minister for commerce and an attorney-general, as well as a representative of Concord Pacific.
The close relationship between Concord Pacific associates and PNG politicians is clearly illustrated by an episode in August 2001, said Greenpeace.
"Having been found to hold five different passports — three of which were Papua New Guinean — Concord Pacific's Lee was deported for holding illegal passports," reported Greenpeace.
"The Minister for Foreign Affairs, John Pudari, who bravely ordered Mr Lee's deportation, has since been sacked," the NGO, whose headquarters is based in Netherlands, added.
Greenpeace further alleged that Pudari's successor, John Waiko, who admitted he had shares in the same company as Lee, had the deportation order reviewed.
