Report 1:

Media release from Bruno Manser Fonds:

Samling fined for illegal logging in Guyana

 Logging operations in three illegally sub-let concessions suspended – Two government officials dismissed  for involvement in timber scam – Forest Commissioner James Singh under increasing pressure

The Malaysian timber giant Samling is being fined a total of 500’000 US dollars for illegally logging tropical rainforests in the South American state of Guyana. According to Guyanese press reports, Samling’s wholly-owned subsidiary Barama Co. Ltd. is sanctioned by the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) for non-compliance with at least four regulations under the Forests Act in three illegally rented concessions.

Barama’s breaches include under-declaration of harvested logs, unauthorized harvesting and extraction of timber as well as fraudulent use of timber tags issued to the company. The company’s sub-contractual operations on three illegally rented concessions have been suspended with immediate effect. Two forestry field officers have been dismissed for alleged collusion with Samling. The sanctions are the result of a probe undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Guyana Forestry Commission and were made public days after Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo had announced Barama’s involvement in a major timber scam.

In a first reaction, Guyanese rainforest advocate Janette Bulkan welcomed the imposed sanctions as “a success for sustained pressure from civil society”. However, Bulkan criticized the improper use of a compounding procedure only intended for minor offences involving forest products of small value. “The GFC should have used an open court procedure in order to secure convictions. Because of its seriously compromised position, the GFC has evaded this route.”

Earlier this month, the Guyana Human Rights Association had asked for the temporary suspension of Forestry Commissioner James Singh and the appointment of independent investigators. In a letter dated 11 January 2007, Singh had lauded Samling’s Guyanese subsidiary to be “an exemplary leader in the forest sector” and had verified that it had been performing “in compliance with the laws of Guyana related to forest operations.”

David James, Attorney-at-Law and former President of Guyana’s Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) said he was pleased that the Government had finally investigated Barama’s activities and asked for a review of the Malaysian corporation’s Foreign Direct Investment Agreement: “We strongly believe that the Government should now take the bold step of reviewing the agreement that it has with Barama.”

The sanctions imposed on Barama only cover part of the illegalities commmited by the Malaysian loggers in Guyana. On a press conference in Zurich on 3 May 2007, James had disclosed Barama’s use of a shell company for illegal logging on titled Amerindian lands.

Despite its highly controversial and partly illegal operations, Samling is being backed by international banks, namely HSBC, Credit Suisse and Macquarie Securities Ltd.

Weblinks related to this story:

Stabroek News, Tuesday, October 23rd 2007
http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56531605

Guyana Chronicle, 23 October 2007
http://www.guyanachronicle.com/topstory.html#Anchor------------34600

For more information, please contact:

Bruno Manser Fonds

for the Peoples of the Rainforest

Basel / Switzerland

Tel. +41 61 261 94 74

Web:www.bmf.ch Mail:info@bmf.ch

REPORT 2:

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

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.