TAIB MAHMUD : This man is being highly treasured & protected by PM NAJIB RAZAK & BN regime, putting him above all laws in Malaysia.. |
The Australian branch of the highly
influential international environment organisation Greenpeace has stepped
in to support the campaign to investigate Taib’s assets abroad.
The
Chief Executive Officer of Greenpeace Australia Pacific, Dr Linda Selvey, has
personally written to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, backing requests by
the Bruno Manser Foundation, PKR and Sarawak Report for an investigation into
the Taib family’s string of investments in that country.
These
include investments by Hamed Sepawi’s Ta Ann in a major logging concern in
Tasmania, as well as numerous companies and properties owned by the Taibs,
Taib’s brother in law, Robert Geneid, and related companies and assets.
Dr Linda Selvey, Chief Executive Officer of Greenpeace Australia Pacific, has written to her Prime Minister to demand an investigation into Taib’s assets in Australia |
Growing
anti-timber corruption campaign puts world governments on the spot over Taib
Dr
Selvey states in her letter:
“As
research by the Bruno Manser Fund has shown and as many other journalists and
independent bodies and individuals have demonstrated, Taib has abused his
office consistently throughout his 30 reign as potentate of Sarawak in
Malaysia. This has come at a high cost to the people and environment of
Sarawak, a region of immense cultural and environmental significance on the island
of Borneo”
She
continues:
“There
is significant evidence to indicate that the Taib family might have laundered
and reinvested large amounts of money, procured through corruption in Australia”
Pointing out Australia’s obligations to identify and
address international corruption under the United Nations Convention
against Corruption (UNCAC), the Greenpeace Chief Executive goes on
to urge Gillard to direct the Attorney General’s Department to
initiate a comprehensive investigation into the conduct and affairs of Taib,
his family and associates on the basis of the material provided by the Bruno
Manser.
Dr
Selvey ends her letter by calling on the Australian Government to
“stand up for the rights of the people of Sarawak to protect their culture,
their land and their environment”.
Greenpeace support for an enquiry into Taib Mahmud’s affairs |
Wilderness Society also joins protest again Taib logging in
Tasmania
Tasmanian tree fern - unique, slow-growing and endangered. This is being destroyed by the clear felling in Tasmania to provide wood for Ta Ann |
Equally hard to ignore will the the backing
by another of Australia’s major environment organisations, the Wilderness
Society, for the stand being taken against Ta Ann’s logging of virgin jungle in
Tasmania.
Ta
Ann has been at the centre of destruction and controversy in Sarawak. A
devastating report this week by the local Huon Valley
Evironment Centre has now catalogued the company’s destruction of
areas that the Australian Government has been trying to protect in
Tasmania.
Even
more shocking is the revelation that the wood logged from these operations is
being marketed to consumers in Japan as ‘eco-wood’, claiming to be
environmentally friendly and made from plantation wood.
Pro-logging
politicians have attacked and criticised the report and Ta Ann’s Chief
Executive in Tasmania, David Ridley claims he has identified ‘at least 50
mistakes’ (which he has yet to publish). However the Wilderness
Society has said:
“We share the concerns of
local environmentalists that wood from Tasmania’s unique forests, including its
oldgrowth forests, are being marketed as eco-friendly building options in
places like Japan,” [Wilderness
Society statement]
Given
that the Executive Chairman of Ta Ann Sdn Bhd and its major shareholder is
Hamed Sepawi, Taib’s cousin, there are also concerns about the legality of the
investment in Ta Ann Tasmania.
An area earmarked for Ta Ann logging. Only 10% of the wood felled by this clear cutting is used for Ta Ann’s mills. Most of the remaining 90% is wasted – it is left and burnt. |
Sepawi, who is generally acknowledged to be
one of Taib’s key business proxies, is at the head of numerous
Sarawak-based companies, which have received million upon millions of ringgit
worth of concessions, contracts and licences.
All thanks
to the Chief Minister, who also acts as Finance and Plantation and Resources
Minister.
So
far, however, pro-logging lobbyists have concentrated their attacks on the
advertising around these reports.
Complaints by the logging lobby
First
they attacked an advertisement promoting a talk by the Editor of Sarawak
Report. Next they attacked the advertisment below, which pointed out that
the real lies are contained in the sales promotions which are
describing Ta Ann’s products as eco-friendly.
Advertisement for the expose on false advertising of Ta Ann’s wood in Sarawak Report, caused complaints by loggers. But they have yet to address the accusations. |
The
local Examiner newspaper reported that the State
Director, Sam McQuestin had written to the Australian Electoral Commission
requesting an investigation into the ad.
The commission
should bear in mind that it was Mr McQuestin’s government which first invited
Ta Ann into Australia giving away $30 million in subsidies to the company,
which provides less than 100 local jobs.
So
far, Ta Ann Tasmania is yet to make a penny in profit for the Australian
taxpayer. Neither has the state owned Forestry Tasmania, which is
supplying Ta Ann with its environmentally destructive logs at rock bottom
prices (thanks to the deal set up by Mr McQuestin’s government).
Forestry
Tasmania is in fact losing heavily on the deal.
So,
Tasmania is being destroyed by an industry that is losing everybody money… or
so it seems. Surely this is the issue that should be concerning
politicians right at this moment?
It is
also time that the logging lobbyists answer the main concerns about
logging in old growth Tasmanian jungle by Ta Ann and misleading ads about
Eco-friendly wood, instead of making ill-founded complaints of their own.
Why
is it that they are focusing on the ads and avoiding the main issues?
Source : Sarawak Report
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