KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) will never condone illegal logging, said Chief Conservator of Forests Datuk Frederick Kugan.
"SFD is one of the statistically proven and commendable law enforcement agencies in Sabah if not in Malaysia. We are doing our statutory duty in the enforcement of the Forest Enactment 1968 without fear or favour," he said in a statement today.
He was responding to an accusation by the Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament Chan Foong Hin that SFD swept under the carpet the illegal logging complaints lodged by a member of the public, Cheung Chau Seng.
Chan also said that with the authorities' alleged reluctance in taking action on Cheung's claim and ignoring whistleblowers like him despite having clear evidence, it would be better for log exports to remain banned until "the chief conservator and the integrity unit grow a backbone."
The log export ban imposed by the previous Warisan-Plus State Government in May 2018 was lifted effective Jan 3 this year.
According to Kugan, the case referred to by Cheung was not swept under the carpet as claimed but was investigated numerous times whereby the recent one was the fourth occasion.
"Chan should have taken due diligence to ascertain the authenticity of Cheung's complaint prior to making his public statement knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation of the SFD as a public office," he said adding that the blatant accusation against SFD was defamatory according to Section 499 of the Penal Code.
"Chan should retract his defamatory imputation made against SFD, failing which further necessary action would be taken by this department to restore the good reputation of this public office."
Kugan said that Cheung had first lodged his complaint to the department at the end of the year 2016 which was about a year after the alleged forest offence.
"An Investigation Officer (IO) was appointed and an Investigation Paper was opened. During the investigation, the complainant was reluctant to cooperate in the investigation work and the IO had to invoke Section 111 of the Criminal Procedure Code to compel his appearance to record his statement under Section 112 of the said Act.
"Based on his recorded statement it was found that the complainant's evidence was hearsay which was inadmissible in the court of law. All other witnesses that he had mentioned during the investigation denied the alleged illegal logging. An effort to gather credible evidence to secure concrete prosecution failed because the alleged offence was overtaken by time.
"The complainant took about a year before he came forward to report his allegation and there was nobody at the alleged crime scene at the time he lodged his complaint. The investigation was futile and the Deputy Public Prosecutor had no other choice other than to order an NFA (No Further Action) for the case," explained Kugan.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the investigation, the complainant continued to lodge the same complaint with the same facts and issues to SFD in the years 2019 and 2020.
"The department did not deny his appeal for further investigation but subject to new evidence," he said.
On the accusation about the alleged exportation of illegally obtained logs to Taiwan, the SFD's investigation found that there was no such exportation and the documents referred to by the complainant as proof of his allegation of the same were forged documents.
"This was thoroughly explained to the complainant. A crime of 'using the false document as genuine' concerning the case was filed and prosecuted in court by the relevant authority in 2017," he said.
With regards to log exports, the decision was derived based on consultations with the industry players namely TAS (Timber Association of Sabah) and STIA (Sabah Timber Industry Association) and relevant stakeholders.
It is, however, a Restricted Logs Exports with an export quota of natural timbers capped at 20 per cent of pre-determined harvest volume based on the Annual Work Plan submitted by the licensees and to be approved by the Forestry Department.
"Furthermore, preference will be given to the local mills through a market survey to be conducted before any decision on exports. These quotas are not automatically granted but based on applications and to be reviewed, coordinated and monitored transparently by a coordination committee, involving representatives from the industries. Those eligible applicants are only confined to the SFMLA (Sustainable Forest Management Licence Agreement) holders, including licences involving Government-linked companies," said Kugan.
He stressed that log export is not new to the department and in fact, has all the legal instruments and procedures, including the involvement of an independent third party monitor under the Sabah Timber Legality Assurance System (STLAS), a scheme that has been implemented in full since 2016 to ensure legality is strictly complied with from the forests to the point of export.
During a recent press conference, Chan and Cheung among others alleged that the department had failed to act against a company, which had been logging outside of its terms, despite supporting evidence.
Cheung alleged that the company had continued logging activities despite its logging licence expiring on June 1, 2015.
The company had also allegedly intruded into a Class II Forest Reserve/Virgin Jungle Reserve (VJR) and had conducted logging activities in Tomani, Tenom beyond the area allocated to the company under Section 5A of the Forest Enactment 1968.
It purportedly managed to export these logs obtained illegally to Taiwan and had further avoided paying royalties as required under Section 24C and Section 30A of the Forest Enactment 1968.