MENGAPA rampasan balak dan kenderaan yang dipercayai terbabit dalam aktiviti pembalakan haram bernilai jutaan ringgit boleh "dilepas" begitu saja oleh Jabatan Perhutanan Sarawak (JHS)? Tidak cukup dengan itu, persoalan juga telah timbul dengan tindakan JHS "membakar" balak haram yang dirampas pada bulan September lepas.
Semasa Allahyarham Tok Nan menjadi Ketua Menteri, beliau memandang serius akan aktiviti-aktiviti pembalakan haram di Sarawak. Malah Tok Nan dulu menekankan, kerajaan negeri Sarawak akan terus komited dalam usaha memerangi rasuah di negeri itu khususnya melibatkan industri pembalakan haram.
Pelbagai dasar baharu dilaksanakan dalam usaha memerangi aktiviti haram itu termasuk tiada lagi lesen diperbaharui kepada syarikat-syarikat pembalakan di Sarawak selain tidak lagi membenarkan penerokaan baharu. Malah dalam masa 15 bulan Tok Nan menjadi Ketua Menteri, lebih 30 kilang pembalakan haram telah diserbu dan ditutup seluruh negeri ini.
Mohon kerajaan Negeri Sarawak dan #SPRM memantau dan menyiasat perkara ini sekiranya ada salahlaku..
Berikut adalah artikel berkaitan: (Gambar 2)
Puzzled over release of seized logs, machinery worth millions
KUCHING: In August, a joint raid was conducted by a company and Sarawak Forest Corporation (SFC) whereby about RM7 million worth of illegal logs and heavy machinery were seized in Bintulu.
A police report was lodged at Tatau Police Station and subsequently over 3,500 logs and 14 units of heavy machinery were handed over to Forest Department by SFC for appropriate action.
The director of Forest Department Sapuan Ahmad has confirmed the release of the logs and vehicles seized during this raid on alleged illegal timber logging.
When contacted last week, he disclosed that a committee set up to probe the case came to the conclusion that there was no case against the companies which logged the area.
The director pointed out that the decision was not his but that of the investigating committee.
Sapuan added that as director, he accepted the findings of his committee and sanctioned the release of the vehicles and logs.
However, industry players expressed their dismay on the release of 3,500 logs and 14 vehicles seized in the joint raid on illegal loggers when all evidences were pointing towards illegal activities.
“The culprits were literally caught red-handed with all evidences pointing toward illegal activities,” said an inside source.
“The illegal logs and machinery seized were submitted to Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC).
“SFC then submitted the report to Sarawak Forest Department as illegal logging by outsiders in a concession area is under the jurisdiction of the department,” the source revealed.
However, the Forest Department decided that there was no case against the companies felling the trees in the area.
The logs were released to the village security and development committee (JKKK) of the area through the village chief while the vehicles comprising two tractors, 10 excavators, a shovel and a dump truck were returned to the companies which felled the logs.
Logs and machinery seized related to illegal logging are usually put on tender for disposal.
In this case, industry players were asking on what basis were the logs returned to the JKK and machinery being returned to the companies which felled the logs.
The authorities concerned had been urged to probe the committee’s conclusion that there was no case against the companies which felled the trees in the area despite the comprehensive report on their activities in the concession area.
Players also demanded that members of the committee making the decision be made known to the public, especially to industry players and also reveal the decisions made in other cases of illegal logging highlighted in the media frequently.
Meanwhile, following an outcry from industry players questioning transparency over the handling of seized illegal logs and machinery highlighted in The Borneo Post on Oct 27, a spokesman from Forest Department told The Borneo Post that it would soon issue a statement on the seizure of the logs and vehicles.
The spokesman also said they would reply to why there was no case against the Dato who owned the machinery. - BP
No comments: