Alleged suppliers of illegal timber to be investigated

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo confirmed yesterday that his office will conduct investigations into forest concessionaires which have allegedly supplied illegal timber to wood-based industrial firms.

Djamaludin said that the investigations would target, among other firms, East Kalimantan-based PT Hanurata, which is suspected to have supplied illegal timber to PT Hutan Sejati, a log-trading company which was accused last month of selling the timber to PT Nusantara Plywood, a subsidiary of the Djajanti Group, and to PT Sumber Mas.

Nusantara Plywood and Sumber Mas, both based in Gresik, East Java, are currently being investigated for allegedly fencing the illegally-felled timber.

Hanurata, according to sources, was found by a forestry inspection team -- consisting of officials from the Ministry of Forestry, police officers and the Ministry of Justice -- to have issued false logging documents for timber strongly believed to be illegally-felled and sold.

"I have met with the management (of PT Hanurata) and they did not deny sub-contracting their concession rights to other parties," Djamaludin said.

He said that such actions were felonious and could be severely punished to the point of licenses being revoked.

He stressed that, according to regulations, all the activities and sub-contracting projects of a concessionaire should be done with the prior consent of the Ministry of Forestry.

"But Hanurata's concessionaires have not been investigated and I have yet to receive reports on any investigation," Djamaludin added.

News on illegal timber trading and smuggling by log-traders and forest concessionaires began to emerge last month when Djamaludin threatened to revoke the licenses of several concessionaires belonging to the Djajanti Group, which, he said, had failed to meet a number of their obligations to the ministry.

Djajanti currently holds concessions of 2.8 million hectares of forest in Maluku, Irian Jaya and Kalimantan.

The recent allegations of timber fencing by Nusantara Plywood has further prompted the ministry to threaten to revoke the licenses of a number of the group's concessionaires, depending on the results of the investigations.

Djamaludin said Djajanti should have been aware of the regulation which stipulates that the ministry may take legal action -- such as revoking the forest concessions belonging to a wood-based industry -- if a firm is proven to have conducted illegal timber trading or smuggling.

Denial

Nusantara Plywood has so far denied the allegations.

Legislators earlier this month also questioned the prudence of Djamaludin's threat to revoke Djajanti's concessionaires.

Djajanti's concessionaires are presently not allowed to conduct self-assessments, but must undergo assessment by officials.

Post-audit checks on the timber supply of the company's wood- based plants are also being carried out. These checks are extending back prior to 1995.

Djamaludin said investigations have so far been carried out on managers of Sumber Mas and Nusantara Plywood, who were questioned as witnesses in the case, and on Sudono, alias Johnsen Limuel, who owns the Hutan Lestari log-trading company.

Further investigations, he said, were still being conducted to determine whether or not the two companies were felonious.

Djamaludin also disclosed yesterday that recent investigations have revealed that the illegal timber stacked by Sumber Mas had in fact already been sold to the company by Hutan Sejati and, therefore, belonged to Sumber Mas.

Earlier, Djamaludin said the ministry had yet to collect evidence to prove that Sumber Mas engaged in illegal trading, because about 2,000 of the 5,000 cubic meters of confiscated timber had not yet been sold to Sumber Mas but was still in the possession of Hutan Sejati.

Djamaludin said Hutan Sejati's owner, Sudono, recently admitted, however, that he had falsified the date on the timber documents. This means that at the time of the investigation, the logs had actually already been sold to Sumber Mas.

He said that Sudono's confessions -- both in relation to his company's alleged fencing and selling timber from Hanurata, and in the falsification of his documents to Sumber Mas -- have been made verbally to investigators.

"We will try to get (the confessions) on paper, to make things easier for the investigations," Djamaludin added.