Now 30 Probed for Timber Graft

Jun 01, 12:10 AM

Current Headlines: By Hamidah Atan

PUTRAJAYA: First, there were 16. Now, there are 30.

The probe into Pahang Forestry Department officers said to have abused their powers by expanding approved logging areas for timber companies or concessionaires and altering documents and maps to allow for more timber to be extracted, has turned up more names than first expected.

It was reported that 16 cases of alleged abuse of power were being investigated, but Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid told the New Straits Times yesterday there were now 30 officers under the microscope.

Twenty of these officers are alleged to have been involved in expanding the logging areas, while the remainder were said to have altered the maps and documents.

Azmi confirmed that all the officers were attached to the Pahang Forestry Department and were not federal officers.

However, he declined to disclose the total area of forest that had been felled illegally or when the offences were committed.

"I received a report on these officers from the Pahang Forestry Department recently, stating that as of May 21, 30 officers were being investigated for abuse of power.

"I was made to understand that action is being taken against them. I have every reason to believe that there are elements of corruption involved.

"However, it is up to the Anti-Corruption Agency to investigate the matter.

"The officers have betrayed the trust placed in them by the government and the people to protect the forest," he said, adding that no reports had been received from other states .

The New Sunday Times had reported that there were 16 cases of abuse of power where documents and maps relating to logging areas were altered.

The report also claimed forestry officers from other states were involved in similar cases.

Pahang Forestry Department director Che Hashim Hassan had been quoted in Timber Malaysia saying that "such cases existed and were being probed".

However, based on the information the department had supplied to Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob at a recent state assembly sitting, 26 cases of forestry law violations were detected in Pahang, including 16 illegal logging cases this year.

Last year, 51 cases were recorded, including 19 illegal logging cases.

The department had also confiscated 38 vehicles, 283 logs and 205 pieces of timber from the culprits this year.

On the denial made by the Kelantan government that Singaporeans were involved in a farming project in the Lojing highlands, Azmi said they should check the facts with the Registrar of Companies.

Azmi had accused the state government of awarding 1,200 hectares to three companies owned by Singaporeans.

He had said the companies were developing an area in the southwest of the highlands.

Annual Bakri, the political secretary to the Kelantan menteri besar, in making the denial, had said the project was given to two Malaysian-registered companies, Jasa Benar Timber and All Green Agritech Sdn Bhd.

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