Sabah Forestry Dept says Kota Kinabalu MP's claims made without proper understanding

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Forestry Department has hit back at the claims made by a MP, saying that they were done without a proper understanding of the facts.

Department chief conservator of forests, Datuk Frederick Kugan said Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin should have checked the facts first before accusing the Department of sweeping cases of illegal logging under the carpet.

He said that in the case of the accusation that the Department did not pursue a suspected illegal logging report lodged by a whistleblower in 2015, the report was actually filed officially at the end of 2016.

He said the cases were investigated and it was later found that the evidence provided did not have a basis, adding that even the witnesses proposed denied all the allegations made.

Kugan said follow up probes were made when the complainant lodged further complaints, but they still were unable to proceed as there was no new evidence to back the claims.

“Chan should have done his due diligence to ascertain the authenticity of the complainant’s complaint prior to making his public statement,” Kugan said.

He said Chan’s actions will harm the reputation of the Sabah Forestry Department as a public office and was defamatory according to Malaysian laws.

He urged Chan to learn the facts of the case and retract his defamatory imputation made against the Sabah Forestry Department or face legal action.

Last week, Chan had urged the state Forestry Department to look into complaints and take serious reports lodged by whistleblowers, especially those with ‘proof’ of wrongdoings instead of finding ways to sweep cases under the carpet.

He cited an example where there was a case of suspected illegal logging done by a company in 2015, adding that evidence was presented to the authorities for investigation but it was subsequently deemed that no further action was to be taken.

With regards to log exports, Kugan said the decision was derived based on consultation with the industry players includingthe TAS (Timber Association of Sabah), the STIA (Sabah Timber Industry Association) and other relevant stakeholders.

“It is however, a restricted log export with export quota of natural timbers capped at 20% of pre-determined harvest volume based on Annual Work Plan submitted by the licensees and to be approved by the Forestry Department,” he said.

He said preference would be given to the local mills through market surveys prior to any decision on exports.

Kugan said these quotas are not automatically granted but based on applications and are reviewed, coordinated and monitored in a transparent manner by a coordination committee, involving representatives from the industries.

He reminded Chan that log export is not new to the department and added that it has all the legal instruments and procedures to ensure legality is strictly complied with from the forests to the point of export.

He said these include the involvement of an independent third party monitor under the Sabah Timber Legality Assurance System (STLAS), a scheme which has been implemented in full since 2016.