ADIB POVERA AND SYLVIA LOOI New Straits Times 29 Oct 14;
SIBU: TWO logging company supervisors detained under Op Tukul for their alleged involvement in corruption and illegal logging activities were charged at the Sessions Court here yesterday.
Lee Hock Liang, 63, who is an assistant camp supervisor, pleaded not guilty to offering a RM10,000 bribe to Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission senior assistant enforcement officer Sendry Ugi at a log pond in Sungai Antu Pala, Kanowit, near here at 2.05pm on April 25.
The bribe was for Sendry to not take action against Lee for allegedly transferring 300 logs from the log pond at Sungai Antu Pala via a tug boat without a permit.
Judge Nixon Kennedy Kembong set RM5,000 bail in one surety and fixed four days for hearing beginning Dec 9.
Earlier in the same court, Law King Chai, 47, was charged with offering RM2,000 to Inspector Mohamad Dzakriya Abdul Kader, who is attached to the Batu Kawa General Operation Force, at a logging area in Kampung Boyan, Jalan Selangau-Mukah, near here on Sept 8.
Law, who is a camp supervisor for another logging company, was alleged to have offered the bribe to Dzakriya as an inducement to not take action against him for an offence under the Sarawak Forestry Ordinance 1958, following his alleged involvement in illegal logging.
Nixon set bail at RM8,000 in one surety. He set the hearing within five days from Dec 15.
MACC prosecuting officer Katherine Nais prosecuted while Lee and Law were unrepresented.
The duo was among 12 individuals, including a district criminal investigation division police chief, who were apprehended during the operation, which was launched four months ago to investigate illegal logging activities in the state.
In Ipoh, Perak Forestry Department director Datuk Roslan Ariffin said efforts taken by the department to stem illegal logging had borne fruit with a significant drop in the activity.
He said illegal logging were rampant in Taiping and Hulu Perak, but they but were now under control.
“With our operations to keep loggers in check, illegal logging has slowed down,” he told the New Straits Times here yesterday.
He did not provide specific details about the drop.
Roslan said the department recorded its latest success with the arrest of three illegal loggers in Taiping on Monday evening.
“The trio, in their 40s, were picked up around Taiping town for encroaching the Changkat Niru Permanent Forest Reserve at Pondok Tanjung in Taiping,” he said, adding that 600ha of the forest reserve had been cleared.
Roslan said the department was building up a case against the three men and papers would be submitted to the legal adviser soon.
State MACC director Datuk Noraziah Abdul Manaf could not be reached for comment.
The New Straits Times front-paged a report on Monday that the Sarawak state government had lost RM45 million to illegal logging activities within just four months between May to August, and that billions of ringgit worth of losses were incurred by federal and state governments because of illegal logging.
‘ORGANISED SYNDICATES INVOLVED IN LOGGING’
BALQIS NASIR New Straits Times 29 Oct 14;
KUALA LUMPUR: THE Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) believes that illegal logging activities in Sarawak which have so far led to the arrests of 10 people, including a senior district police officer, are carried out by organised syndicates.
Graft-busters from the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya carried out intelligence works for nine months, including setting up fake logging companies and surveillance before zooming in on the syndicates-cum-loggers.
It believes that the syndicates which have been raking millions from the activities, have been active for many years.
MACC deputy chief commissioner (investigations) Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull said investigations into the involvement of syndicates in logging activities in the state is almost complete.
It is believed that thousands of hectares of forest reserves in Sarawak have been cleared by illegal loggers.
Shukri, however, cautioned the state government and Forestry Department to continue monitoring despite the end of Sarawak’s Op Tukul.
Op Tukul is MACC’s most comprehensive operation in recent times, with an all-out crackdown on illegal logging expected to last a few years.
Last week alone, MACC arrested 30 people, — 20 in Johor and 10 in Sarawak.
MACC also frozen 30 bank accounts containing RM18 million, belonging to more than 10 companies suspected of being involved in illegal logging.
Shukri said the authorities and state governments must take charge and carry out their own initiative to address the problem, which had caused losses in billion of ringgit to the federal and state governments.
“If they do not have enough manpowe, they should hire more people.
“And if there are loopholes in the regulations, review them,” he told the New Straits Times yesterday.
Shukri said the MACC would recommend better and effective systems and procedures to the state governments to put a stop to the activities which, if not curbed, would result in massive ecological destruction.
Meanwhile, two suspects were charged in Sibu yesterday under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act 2009 for offering RM10,000 and RM2,000 of bribes, respectively, to enforcement officers.
They were arrested last Wednesday and Saturday.
Another two are to be charged for allegedly committing a similar offence at the Miri Sessions Court today.
Two logging company workers claim trial to corruption charges
ADIB POVERA New Straits Times 28 Oct 14;
SIBU: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) prosecuted another two individuals detained under Op Tukul at the Sessions Court here today.
In the first case, a 47-year-old camp supervisor of a logging company was charged with offering a RM2,000 bribe to Inspector Mohamad Dzakriya Abdul Kader (CORRECT), who is attached with the Batu Kawa branch General Operation Force, last month.
Law King Chai claimed trial to committing the offence at a logging area in Kampung Boyan, Jalan Selangau Mukah here at 7pm on Sept 8.
According to the charge sheet, the money was an inducement for Dzakriya from taking any actions against the accused for his alleged involvement in illegal logging activities.
Judge Nixon Kennedy Kembong set court bail of RM8,000 with one local surety who had a minimum of three years of employment. He also fixed hearing for five days beginning Dec 15.
In the same court room, an assistant camp supervisor for another logging company also pleaded not guilty to offering RM10,000 bribe to MACC senior assistant enforcement officer Sendry Ugi at a log pond in Sungai Antu Pala, Kanowit near here.
Lee Hock Liang, 63, was accused of committing the offence at 2.05pm on Apr 25.
The bribe was an inducement for Sendry to not take actions against Lee for allegedly transferring 300 timber logs from the log pond at Sungai Antu Pala via a tug boat without a permit.
For this case, Nixon fixed bail at RM5,000 in one surety.
He also fixed Dec 9 and Dec 10 as the hearing date.
Both of the accused were charged under Section 17(b) of the MACC Act 2009, which carries the maximum 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of not less than five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever higher.
MACC prosecuting officer Katherine Nais prosecuted while both of the accused was not represented.
