For the second time in just two weeks Malaysian electronics distributor Compugates has announced its involvement in a dodgy logging deal in PNG.
On January 28 we revealed Compugates agreement to log in a 26,000 hectare SABL lease already declared unlawful by a Commission of Inquiry and recommended for cancellation.
Now Compugates has announced an agreement with Lower Sepik Holdings to log a further 72,000 hectares of forest [see story below].
But there are serious questions to be answered over how Lower Sepik Holdings could possibly hold the logging rights to 72,000 hectares of forest.
Lower Sepik Holdings is a company that was registered in May 2012 with just one shareholder and one director – Arnold Alero. Since being registered the company has not filed any annual returns. How could a one-man company that has never traded have the lucrative logging rights to 72,000 hectares of forest?
All forest in PNG is customary owned and any large-scale activity on the land requires the informed consent of all the customary landowners.
Has Compugates checked under what authority Arnold Alero claims to have the rights to log 72,000 ha of forest?
Has Compugates checked the informed consent of the landowners?
And what form of logging permit or licence does Lower Sepik Holdings have and how was it obtained?
Compugates signs MoU for another PNG logging project
The Star
Compugates Holdings Bhd, which was recently invited by Papua New Guinea-based Marrienberg Hills Resources Development Ltd (MHRD) to log 26,000ha of its PNG forested land, has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with another landowner to engage it as a logger over 70,000ha in PNG.
The consumer electronic product distributor told Bursa Malaysia that its unit Compugates Perak Sdn Bhd (CPSB), which cultivates and sells agricultural products, signed a memorandum with Lower Sepik Holdings Ltd to undertake the project.
Lower Sepik will maintain its invitation to CPSB exclusively for a period of six months and will not invite any other person or entity for that purpose.
The logging and marketing contract is for a term of five years and is renewable.
