Djajanti to lose forest concessions

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo said yesterday his ministry will revoke the licenses of several forest concessionaires belonging to the Djajanti Group who have engaged in unlawful timber trading.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with executives of PT Nusantara Plywood, a subsidiary of the Djajanti Group which -- together with PT Sumber Mas -- was recently alleged of buying illegal timber, Djamaludin said a decree on the withdrawal of the concessionaires' licenses is currently being prepared.

"But first we must study which of the group's 26 concessions should be withdrawn -- whether it should be all 26 or only those in relation to which there has been illegal timber trade," he said.

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

Djamaludin said the group should have been aware of Ministerial Decree No. 393/1994, which stipulates that the licenses of concessionaires are to be revoked when they are found to have bought illegal timber.

He said the company would no longer be allowed to self-assess its logging documents, but would have to undergo assessment by officials.

The ministry, he said, would also conduct a post-audit check on the timber supply of the company's wood-based plants collected before 1995.

"Since the illegal timber fencing (at Nusantara Plywood) was revealed through an unanticipated inspection, I have strong suspicions that before that violation was discovered a lot of things were not right," he said.

Djamaludin said on Monday that there were "strong indications" that Nusantara Plywood and Sumber Mas -- both based in Gresik, East Java -- were involved in fencing illegal timber.

The dossiers have been completed and the case will be brought to court, he added.

Djamaludin said the illegal timber came from PT Rimba Lancar, a wood-collecting company owned by Johnsen Limuel, alias Sudono.

He said Sudono had admitted during interrogations that a lot of his wood was illegal.

"Strong indications that the company receives illegal wood can be found in the difference between its output and the amount of wood supplied to it by its concessionaires," Djamaludin said.

"As a company that's been in the forestry industry for almost 20 years, it should know the difference between illegal and legal timber," he added.

Soejono Varinata, a board member of the Djajanti Group, said yesterday that his company would abide to all the decisions and regulations of the ministry.

"We have explained the situation to the minister, but we will obey whatever decision he makes," Soejono said.

Soejono said that the executives of Nusantara Plywood have been questioned in their capacities as witnesses in the case and not as defendants.

After meeting with Sumber Mas executives Yos Soetomo and Djamhuri yesterday, Djamaludin said that the ministry has yet to collect evidence which proves that the company engaged in illegal timber trading.

He said that 2,134 cubic meters of the wood suspected of being illegally traded had not yet been sold by the company and was therefore not yet in the company's possession.

"Until today the evidence we have gathered is not strong enough to confirm that Sumber Mas has been fencing illegal timber, unless we come up with new developments concerning the remaining 3,000 cubic meters which have been confiscated," he said.

"But we will continue our investigation, which will include the concessionaires which supply the timber," he said.

Company president Yos said that "everything was in the hands of the minister."

"We have no intention of suing the minister. We will abide by his rules," he said. (pwn)

Acquisition -- Page 8