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THE NATION: Salween outcome nears



Politics 

      Salween outcome nears

      THE government's committee investigating
      massive illegal logging in Salween National
      Park has finished 90 per cent of its work
      and has found that corruption among
      officials concerned has only involved local
      officials, the chairman of the committee
      said Tuesday. 

      Interior Ministry's Permanent Secretary
      Chanasak Yuwaboon, chairman of the
      committee, said his panel would conclude
      the findings on March 16 and would present
      them to Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai on
      the same day. 

      Chanasak's committee met for six hours
      before he announced the progress to
      reporters. 

      He said details of the officials involved in
      the alleged corruption, which resulted in
      massive illegal logging, could not yet be
      disclosed. 

      Chanasak said that, so far, the findings did
      not implicate any administrative-level
      officials or Cabinet members in the
      large-scale logging. He said certain
      government officials from central office
      might have been responsible with regard to
      negligence in their duties and not via
      corruption. 

      The permanent secretary said the border
      pass in Mae Hong Son was opened for the
      sake of border trade, not for the benefit of
      the illegal logging. 

      Illegal loggers felled trees in the park and
      smuggled them out of the country
      re-importing them by disguising them as
      logs from Burma. 

      ''We have some evidence which can be
      used to proceed with criminal charges
      against several officials,'' Chanasak said. 

      He said the local officials, involved in
      corruption to help the sawmills disguise
      illegal logs, all came from agencies
      concerned in customs clearing of the
      imported logs. 

      Chanasak said another committee would
      be set up to determine whether disciplinary
      action would be taken against any official
      and he declined to comment whether the
      Mae Hong Son governor would be held
      responsible for failing to stop the illegal
      practice earlier. 

      Chanasak said information obtained by his
      committee could be linked to the
      investigation by the Central Investigation
      Bureau against former forestry department
      deputy director general Prawat Thanatkha,
      accused of receiving a Bt5 million bribe
      from a sawmill owner in Tak. 

      Plodprasop Suraswadi, secretary-general
      of the Land Reform Office who heads a
      working committee of Chanasak's panel,
      said most of 10,000 seized logs had been
      felled not long ago from the park. 

      Plodprasop said several of the operation's
      officials had took part in the felling and
      selling of logs to tycoons and issued fake
      documents to help the logging tycoons
      receive the logs. Plodprasop's committee
      is in charge of fact-finding on the question
      of illegal logging. 

      Pol Lt Gen Winij Krachangson, chief of
      another working committee under
      Chanasak's panel, admitted that certain
      military officers were involved in the illegal
      logging, but declined to name them. 

      BY NUSSARA YENPRASERT 

      The Nation