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.