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BKK POST: SALWEEN SCANDAL



February 18, 1998


                                     



                            SALWEEN SCANDAL

              FIO is laundering
              logs, says speaker

              Auctions give illicit timber legal status 

              Post reporters

              The Forest Industry Organisation is partly to blame for the
              destruction in the Salween area, the Senate speaker said
              yesterday.

              Auctions held by the FIO to clear seized logs only encouraged
              further felling, said Meechai Ruchupan.

              Operators let authorities seize illegal logs and then buy them at
              auction, when they have legal status, said Mr Meechai, calling for
              a ban on the sales.

              Furthermore, controls must be applied to projects that involve
              felling to ensure the operators have no claim to the resulting
              timber.

              Mr Meechai said a 50-member public/private sector panel
              should be set up and assigned to inspect project sites before
              construction to designate areas where trees can be cut and mark
              those that should be saved.

              Trees felled must belong to the government which must keep
              them for public use, he said. "This would help get rid of people
              who initiate projects simply because benefits from timber are
              huge."

              He doubted the change of status of the Salween National Park in
              Mae Hong Son to a wildlife sanctuary, as suggested by Pongpol
              Adireksarn, the agriculture and co-operatives minister, would
              help halt the logging.

              On Monday, Pol Gen Salang Bunnag, chief of the deforestation
              prevention and suppression unit and a deputy police chief, said
              the FIO was helping criminals "launder" logs.

              Narong Sukree, the FIO chief, rejected the accusation, saying
              Pol Gen Salang was looking for a scapegoat for his "failure to
              suppress felling in protected areas".

              Mr Narong said he was stunned by the accusation because it
              was Pol-Gen Salang who asked the FIO to help remove
              evidence from the forests during task force raids in protected
              areas last year.

              "Pol-Gen Salang may forget he asked us to support suppression
              in Salween and even gave me a letter thanking for our
              collaboration." he said.

              Mr Narong said the FIO was only involved in hauling
              confiscated logs. In the case of evidence from the Salween, they
              were hauled to Ayudhaya before bids were called in Bangkok.

              "Without the FIO will police and forestry officials sell confiscated
              timber and other evidence at the scene? If so, the consequences
              would be disastrous as no one would witness the sales," said Mr
              Narong.

              Since last year, illegal logs confiscated from Salween totaling
              2,494 cu m were sold through bids organised by the FIO and
              fetched 48 million baht.

              The remaining 13,000 logs gathered at Salween national park
              had import seals so their origin could be checked at the Customs
              Department.

              He identified the companies that won bids to buy the logs as PC
              Wood Co, SPL Co, Kij Charoen Wattana Co, Sermwong Saw
              Mill Co and Lumberjack Co.

              Meanwhile, Pol Gen Salang defended himself after being
              accused of negligence by the Mae Hong Son governor,
              suggesting the accusation was in retaliation for his report into
              logging in the province.

              On Monday, Governor Phakdee Chompooming said Pol Gen
              Salang neglected to act against illegal loggers and suggested he
              be punished for negligence.

              Pol Gen Salang, whose report pointed to irregularities involving
              officials, said his unit was supplementary and took orders from
              the governor.

              "The Agriculture Ministry has assigned the governor as chief
              investigator. My task force is a back-up unit and operates under
              the governor," he said.

              He also proposed felled logs found in the national park be left to
              serve as a reminder of the failure of officials in curbing logging.

              Suppression and prevention of illegal logging is hard because it
              involves rich and influential figures, he added.




                                     




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Last Modified: Wed, Feb 18, 1998