I question the justification for “double identity” of Sabah Forestry Department Director, Datuk Sam Mannam, who holds the post of director in various Yayasan Sabah subsidiary companies which undertake commercial activities.
It was revealed when I did further investigation on the allegation that Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) officer never crosscheck the numbers and types of timber harvested and transported from Yayasan Sabah (YS) concession area, as recorded in a video clip provided by a whistle blower to me.
In the video clip, a timber truck driver was seen returning to his truck without checking of the logs carried by the SFD officer, in front of a gate which is believed to be located in YS concession area. Deviation of numbers and kinds of logs could cost the state coffer millions losses of timber royalty.
The YS concession area in the video belongs to Rakyat Berjaya Sdn Bhd (RBJ), a wholly-owned subsidiary of YS, which manages its forest concession area. RBJ with the SFD manages the Ulu Segama and Malua Forest Reserves under Sustainable Forest Management area comprising 241,098 hectares of forest land. The area represents one of the largest expanses of forest in the southeastern part of Sabah and arguably has the largest concentration of flora and fauna, making it truly a priceless public asset.
Further investigation on the RBJ company information, I was shocked that SFD Director is one of the members of Board of Director (BoD).
It’s totally conflict of interest. In one hand, the director heads SFD which is entrusted to manage forests and regulate forestry activities in Sabah. In the other hand, the similar person is sitting in the BoD of a company which undertake commercial activities in the YS concession areas. So, he cut the trees and he monitor the number of trees fell?, It’s analogical with a football player who is the judge himself.
More surprisingly is, the SFD director not only holds the director post in one company, but a few, namely Serijaya Industri Sdn Bhd, Innoprise Corporation Sdn Bhd and Innoprise Plantations Berhad. These companies are subsidiaries to YS and undertaking plantation activities in those forest converted oil palm YS concession area.
Even though the SFD director traditionally holds the director post in YS, a foundation which is trustee to Sabahan to manage the state’s natural resources, mainly timber in the beginning of the foundation, but he shouldn’t get involved in any YS subsidiaries undertaking commercial activities, especially those in timber business.
It’s a total embarrassment for the SFD director once the YS subsidiary which he acts as director violating sustainable forest management practice. As shown in the video clip, RBJ and SFD not even comply with the most fundamental way of monitoring, e.g. checking the numbers and kinds of logs. How could we trust the significant reduction of timber royalties in the last decade is not caused by leakages?
Therefore, Datuk Sam Mannam should choose to resign from BoD of YS subsidiaries or vice versa, resign from SFD to prove that he has none vested interest with the commercial activities. Meanwhile, stringent enforcement is urged to curb illegal logging activities in order to protect the public interest.