Bad cops undermine illegal logging raids

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Corrupt officers have undermined the police's largest crackdown on illegal logging ever this year and could further endanger the prospects for future operations, a top detective says.

Head of the Ordinary Crime Division at National Police Headquarters, Brig. Gen. Suharto, told a seminar over the weekend that police had only managed to recover Rp 40.1 billion (US$4 million) in state losses from illegal logging, thanks in part to crooked police officers.

Police had set a target of contributing Rp 2 trillion to state revenues from the sale of illegal timber seized during the Hutan Lestari (Preserve the Forest) operation to eradicate the rampant practice.

"We found evidence that organizers set up the auctions to enable selected buyers who were the previous owners of the illegal timber, or their accomplices, to buy back the logs," Suharto explained.

A timber auction should be announced in at least one national newspaper five days prior to the date, but in most cases auctions were announced in an obscure newspaper so that the public were not aware of the event.

"We will launch an internal investigation into police officers allegedly involved in setting up the auctions and find out why the amount of state assets recovered was so low," Suharto said.

Police, Suharto said, would cooperate with the military, the intelligence agency and the forestry office to stop the collusion.

Minister of Forestry Malam Sambat Kaban has estimated annual state losses from illegal logging at Rp 40 trillion. He also said illegal logging involved not only local government officials, but also police and military officers.

While most of the money raised from sales of illegal timber goes to the state treasury, some will be returned to the police to finance their operations against illegal logging.

Suharto acknowledged there was still a large amount of timber that remained unsold at forestry offices due to administrative procedures in identifying the origin of the logs. Some of the timber had been kept too long, causing it to decay and for its value to decrease.

"We found a large amount of timber whose owners could not be identified. This is the most difficult part because we can't auction the timbers until we identify the owners," Suharto said.

The police had discovered seven such cases in Papua alone.

With only Rp 40 billion collected from the auctions, the police are having difficulty financing their next crackdown on illegal logging, Suharto said.

The Hutan Lestari operation conducted in Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua cost almost Rp 12 billion.

Without additional income to fund the operation, it is widely believed that police will seek alternative sources of revenue, which ironically includes illegal logging financiers.

Police are fully aware of the situation in some remote areas where many police officers were backing the criminal activity, according to Suharto.

"We are doing our best to eliminate these cases. Police officers who are involved in these activities will be investigated and punished just like the illegal logging financiers," he said.

Referring to the financiers, Suharto said he regretted the light sentences handed down by the courts on those who were prosecuted in connection with illegal logging.

"This year we completed probes into 10 out of 87 cases, but nine of them were thrown out by the court, acquitting the defendants. It's frustrating," Suharto said.