Action by HSBC, which triggered an investigation into a palm oil sector subsidiary of Noble Group, one of its own clients, has resulted in thousands of hectares of primary rainforest in the heart of Papua getting a second chance after evidence showed Noble Plantations was preparing to clear 18,000 hectares of forest
International banking giant HSBC’s provision of financial services for Noble Group’s $1 billion refinancing violates its own agricultural commodities and forestry policies and must be withdrawn – Noble owns two controversial oil palm companies that are clearing some of the last significant forests in Papua, Indonesia
Timber-smuggling Indonesian police officer Labora Sitorus has been jailed for eight years after an appeal overturned the shockingly lenient verdict handed down by a court in West Papua. Originally charged with illegal logging, fuel smuggling and money laundering, he was found guilty of just one charge – illegal logging
The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) today welcomed a legal probe by Indonesia’s national anti-corruption agency into million-dollar payments by a rogue cop-turned-timber smuggler to local, regional and national police officials
In the new report Rogue Traders: The Murky Business of Merbau Timber Smuggling in Indonesia, London-based EIA and Indonesian group Telapak identify businessmen Ricky Gunawan and Hengky Gosal as two of the major players in smuggling illicit merbau timber