Djajanti to lose forest concessions
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should be withdrawn -- whether it should be all 26 or only those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)
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