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Berita di bawah telah disiarkan di Malaysiakini 18 November 2003.

Act on reports or face more revelations, warns logging company

Logging company Seruan Gemilang Makmur (SGM) today threatened to reveal more about its botched deal with Umno Pahang over a controversial multi-million logging concession, if the authorities fail to act on its previous reports.

Its director Syed Ali Badarudin warned that the details could provide fodder for the opposition and jeopardise Umno Pahang’s chances in the upcoming elections.

He said SGM plans to expose more alleged wrongdoings by Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob during the awarding of the concession.

He added that the company will reveal receipts to show that Adnan’s aides had allegedly received money from SGM.

"We will let the people know how he abused his power," he said, adding that SGM may lodge a report with the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) regarding this.

He also claimed that no action has been taken regarding the two police reports and the two ACA reports lodged about four months ago regarding the matter.

He alleged that the authorities have not contacted the company or called any of its employees for questioning until today.

"We urge the authorities to expedite their investigation and conclude it as soon as possible. Otherwise, we will reveal more details," he said.

‘Unofficial payments’

In one of its earlier police reports, SGM claimed that two of the chief minister’s close aides received separate ‘unofficial’ payments amounting to more than RM320,000 in order for the company to secure the lucrative logging concession.

The reports also alleged that Adnan’s denial of the logging concession was in contempt of court and accused him of ‘breaching the law and cheating’ SGM.The previous ACA reports called for a probe on the issuance of licence to Umno Pahang to appoint a company to log the land which belonged to the state government since the party failed to settle the land premium.

The reports were lodged by DAP publicity chief Ronnie Liu on July 30 and PAS Kuala Pahang state assembly representative Mohd Iqbal Hamdy Mohd Rusdi two weeks latter.

The logging scam highlighted in July and August by malaysiakini centred around a 10,000-acre plot of land - about 40sq km in size - near Pekan.

It was awarded to Umno Pahang in 1998 by the state government led by then Pahang menteri besar and Umno state chief Khalil Yaacob, ostensibly for oil palm plantation.

To make the deal aboveboard, the party was required to pay a RM4.8 million land premium before logging activities could start. Although almost all of the land has been stripped to date, Umno has repeatedly failed to make the payment.

‘Hidden agreement’

In 2000, Umno Pahang gave SGM the exclusive right to fell, extract and sell the logs in the area. In return, the company paid the party a mere RM50,000 for the deal which is believed to be worth millions.

Industry experts were puzzled by the extremely low transfer rate and questioned if there was any "hidden agreement" between the two parties since several set of documents revealed that the deal was supported by high-ranking Umno Pahang officials.

Umno Pahang and SGM have since been embroiled in a legal dispute after the company failed to obtain a logging licence from the state forestry office to log the remaining 3,000 acres of the tract. SGM sought RM31 million from Umno Pahang.

However, the Kuantan High Court on Aug 15 allowed an application by Umno Pahang to set aside an earlier order for the party to pay RM70,000 to SGM in compensation. The date for the fresh trial has yet to be fixed.

Kita amat menanti-natikan apakah tindakan susulan yang akan diambil dan diharap Pak Lah dapat membuktikan bahawa beliau tidak hanya beretorik sahaja. Hairan sekali mengapa media arus perdana tidak mahu menyiarkan apa yang benar kepada Pak Lah dan kerajaan. Entah apa yang ditakutkan lagi, takkan hendak membodek sehingga sanggup merendahkan daya intelek dan pemikiran. Inikah yang dinamakan politik kestabilan, politik mengikut saluran atau yang sama maksud dengannnya?