Warisan lodges report with MACC over Sabah’s carbon credit deal

Loretto Padua.

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan has lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over Sabah’s controversial Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA) for trading in carbon credit with a Singapore-based company.

Warisan secretary-general Datuk Loretto Padua lodged the report at the MACC office here on Monday (Jan 7).

He said MACC officers took over two hours to record his statement.

“They advised us not to talk about the report and allow them to investigate the matter,” he added.

Padua said that the report was not politically motivated but was to ensure the state’s interests and its sovereign rights over forests was not lost by the agreement.

In November last year, the Sabah government signed the NCA with the Singapore-based Hoch Standard Pte Ltd, which triggered questions from native and conservationist groups as well as political parties.

The key issues of concern were details of the deal that included areas of forests to be placed under the NCA, as well as whether the state government was getting a fair share of the carbon credit sales.

Native groups also raised questions if the deal protected Sabah’s natives who rely on the forest for their livelihood.

Padua said that his report was related to a Feb 2 news report on Al Jazeera that raised questions on the company and the benefits of the deal to the people.

He alleged that there was no public discussion on the NCA and the deal was done in a hushed manner.

“There is a lot that needs to be investigated, among which is the company picked to carry out the carbon trade and its relations with certain individuals behind the agreement,” he added.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, who said he was tasked by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, has argued that the deal would benefit Sabah in terms of revenue from RM2bil to RM5bil annually.

He stressed the deal only involved existing forest reserves that had already been gazetted and protected and would not disturb current arrangements in such areas.

Dr Jeffrey had in many interviews insisted that the company selected is able to carry out the task and the state was not selling its natural assets.