Confirmed – billionaire Amazon boss’ $500m superyacht was fitted with Myanmar blood teak
In another major win for Myanmar’s forests, a penalty order of €150,000 has been issued against a Dutch firm for using illicit Myanmar teak on Jeff Bezos’ superyacht Koru.
The Dutch Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie OM) has confirmed it reached a settlement agreement with a “Dutch yacht builder” — named as Oceanco by Dutch newspaper NRC — for breaching the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR).
Just days earlier, a UK court fined Sunseeker International, the UK’s biggest luxury yacht builder, more than £350,000 for a similar offence.
Billionaire Amazon boss Bezos’ superyacht Koru is currently the largest sailing yacht in the world and certainly one of the most expensive to have ever been built, reportedly costing about $500 million.
Jeff Bezos’ teak-decked yacht the Koru (c) Guy Fleury
EIA first questioned whether blood teak from Myanmar was used in the construction of Koru in an op-ed published in 2023 and has sought a response from Bezos on the allegation, but has yet to receive any answers.
Bezos commissioned Oceanco, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to build the vessel in 2019, which is now confirmed to be adorned with conflict timber.
Jeff Bezos (c) Seattle City Council
The Bezos Earth Fund was announced by Jeff Bezos in 2020 “with the goal of combatting the climate crisis and driving a nature-positive future” and stating “[w]e need all hands on-deck” to implement the Fund’s objectives.
EIA Forests Campaign Leader Faith Doherty said: “This is the second criminal fine issued in the past two weeks involving traders illegally purchasing and using Myanmar teak in the EU and UK markets.
“Finally, the law is being implemented and, once again, this is a warning to those who think they can continue to buy blood teak from Myanmar without consequences.”
The EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) prohibits illegally harvested timber entering the EU market by obligating those first placing it to carry out due diligence into the legality of the sourcing. Since 2020, the Conclusions of the EU Commission EUTR Expert Group has upheld the determination that it is virtually impossible to meet the requirements of the EUTR for imports of timber from Myanmar.
During the criminal investigation instigated in March 2022 into the sourcing of timber for the Koru, it was found that Myanmar teak was used for the vessel’s deck, brought into the EU market by a German timber merchant.
NRC reports that this German company was Alfred Neumann GmbH. EIA had previously submitted a substantiated concern (a mechanism under the EUTR to alert authorities of suspected illegal timber imports into the EU) about the imports to the German authorities in 2019.
Myanmar teak seized in the Netherlands for being in breach of EU law
The press release of the Dutch Public Prosecution service confirms that, as it was the German company which first placed the teak used for the decking onto the EU market, Oceanco cannot be held liable for failing to comply with the EUTR. The information indicating the teak used for the deck may not be in compliance with the EUTR has been forwarded to the German authorities.
Another German company, Wolz Nautic GmbH, was linked to the supply of illegal teak in the Sunseeker court case, which begs the question as to why the German courts are not also issuing fines to timber merchants for their Myanmar teak imports.
The investigation into Koru’s timber revealed that wooden furniture and finishing products imported for the ship were made out of teak from Myanmar. These products were purchased from a Turkish company in 2022 and, since the yacht builder was the first to place these products onto the EU market, it was liable for breaching the EUTR for failing to carry out due diligence on the timber’s origin.
The press release states the yacht builder “recognises the importance of the EUTR legislation and deeply regrets that this has happened” and in 2019 “already decided that it will no longer use Myanmar teak wood at all for new orders”.
The construction of Koru began before 2019 and is “the last ship on which the yacht builder has used this wood”.
As Oceanco acknowledged it failed to carry out due diligence on the origin of the teak used in the furniture and finishing products and admitted as much, the Dutch Public Prosecutor agreed to settle the case with a penalty order of €150,000.
Teak tree
While the action taken to criminally investigate Oceanco’s complicity in destroying Myanmar’s forests in defiance of the EUTR must be commended, the question remains as to why an investigation into a potential sanctions breach is not being pursued.
In June 2021, the EU sanctioned Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTE) due to its ties to the Myanmar military, which staged a coup in February 2021. MTE has the exclusive right to harvest and sell Myanmar timber to international markets and any revenue generated through the sale of teak directly supports the military regime. After June 2021, sanctions law prohibits the purchase timber from Myanmar both directly and indirectly, as MTE is at the top of the supply chain.
Given that the teak was purchased from the Turkish company in 2022, this timeline raises the question as to whether an indirect transaction between Oceanco and MTE was created, thus potentially leading to a sanctions breach.
Doherty added: “EIA urges the authorities to implement sanctions targeted at Myanmar teak by investigating those who have recently been found in violation of the EUTR for Myanmar timber imports.
“These sanctions have been in place for more three years and possible sanctions breaches must be investigated in parallel with EUTR cases.”
