Logging firm threatens to sue Greenpeace

Logging firm threatens to sue Greenpeace

Deutsche Presse Agentur/Kuala Lumpur

A Malaysian logging company has threatened to sue Greenpeace over a report slamming its alleged corrupt and destructive activities in the region, the environmental group said on Thursday.

Lawyers for the company, Rimbunan Hijau, had sent Greenpeace a letter demanding an apology and the withdrawal of the report entitled "The Untouchables - Rimbunan Hijau's World of Forest Crime and Political Patronage" as well as the list of the recipients of the report.

However, the international environmental group said in a statement that it would not back down from the findings in the report.

"Rimbunan Hijau is hoping that the threat of litigation will silence its critics. But Greenpeace won't back down, nor will we retract any allegations we have made.

"We're confident our report will hold up in court," said Greenpeace International's legal counsel Jasper Teulings.

The report on the company, published in February this year, highlighted the company's "corrupt and destructive activities," Greenpeace said.

"Many of these operations are characterized by documented illegalities and environmental destruction. It is alleged that Rimbunan Hijau uses tactics such as political corruption and abuses of indigenous peoples' rights within its operations," it said.

The Malaysian company dominates the logging industry in Papua New Guinea and has interests in Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Malaysia, Vanuatu, Indonesia, New Zealand and Russia, Greenpeace said in the statement.