Alleged suppliers of illegal timber to be investigated

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.