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SANDAKAN – A war of words has erupted over allegations of illegal logging activities in Sabah, with the Forestry Department demanding that DAP’s Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin retract his statements or face legal action.
State chief conservator of forests Datuk Frederick Kugan said there should have been some due diligence on Chan’s part over claims made by one Cheung Chau Seng.
“The blatant accusation against the Sabah Forestry Department is defamatory pursuant to Section 499 of the Penal Code of the Federation of Malaysia.
“Chan should learn the facts of the case and retract his defamatory imputation made against the department, failing which further necessary action would be taken by this department to restore the good reputation of this public office,” Kugan said in a statement today.
Kugan was referring to Chan’s statement at a press conference in Kota Kinabalu last Friday, claiming that the department had turned a blind eye to complaints by Cheung about a company that had allegedly conducted illegal logging in a Tenom forest reserve in 2015.
The complaints were about a company that had allegedly conducted logging after its logging licence expired in 2015, purportedly trespassing and logging in a Class II Forest Reserve/Virgin Jungle Reserve in Tomani, Tenom.
It was also alleged that this was beyond the area allocated to the company under Section 5A of the Forest Enactment 1968. Another claim was that the company illegally exported logs to Taiwan while purportedly avoiding paying royalty fees.
Kugan expressed regret over the accusation, saying not only was the complaint looked into, but was investigated four times.
“The complaint was first lodged to the department at the end of 2016, which was about a year after the alleged forest offence (2015). 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 out 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.”
He added that the complainant continued to lodge the same complaint with the same facts to the Sabah Forestry Department in 2019 and 2020.
“The department did not deny his appeal for further investigation but was subject to new evidence.
The department’s investigation also found that there was no exportation to Taiwan and the documents referred to by the complainant as proof of his allegation of the same were forged documents.”
Kugan said the Sabah Forestry Department 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 nor favour.
“We believe that the complainant, Cheung Chau Seng, knows very well that the Sabah Forestry Department will never condone illegal logging. A company, in which he is one of the directors, was recently (December) ordered by the court to enter its defence after the prosecution succeeded in proving a prima facie case,” he said. – The Vibes, January 9, 2022
