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View all search resultsGovt files lawsuits against companies that set forest fires
The Environment Ministry has filed lawsuits against several agroforestry companies suspected of starting forest fires in Sumatra
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T
he Environment Ministry has filed lawsuits against several agroforestry companies suspected of starting forest fires in Sumatra.
The ministry is taking legal action against seven agroforestry companies that allegedly set fire to forest areas in Riau in 2013.
The ministry's law enforcement deputy, Himsar Sirait, said on Friday that the dossiers had been submitted to the Attorney General's Office (AGO).
'We are currently completing the support documentation required by the AGO,' Himsar told The Jakarta Post.
The seven companies, which are only referred to by their initials, are palm oil companies PT BHS, PT JJP and PT LIH, and industrial forest companies PT RUJ, PT SRL, PT SPM and PT BBH.
The ministry is also investigating allegations that two palm oil companies, PT TFDI and PT TKWL, and an industrial forest company, PT SGP, started forest fires earlier this year.
Between 2012 and now, the ministry has investigated and filed lawsuits against a number of Sumtra-based plantation companies.
In 2012, the ministry filed lawsuits against PT Kallista Alam and PT Surya Panen Subur (SPS).
Meulaboh District Court found Kallista Alam guilty of burning peatland in the Leuser conservation area in Nagan Raya regency, Aceh, and ordered the firm to pay a fine of US$30.5 million.
The ministry, however, lost on Thursday the lawsuit it had brought against PT SPS ' for allegedly burning peatland in Tripa Swamp, also in Aceh ' which was heard at the South Jakarta District Court.
The ministry is planning to appeal the verdict.
When handing down its verdict, the court maintained that the ministry's lawsuit failed to define the forest fires that were allegedly set by the company.
Moreover, the panel of judges said the ministry should not have acted against the company, as the fires took place in 2009, two years before then-Aceh governor Irwandi Yusuf granted the company a permit in 2011.
Himsar rejected claims that the case against the company was weak, arguing that it was similar to that against Kallista Alam.
- Lawsuits brought against 7 firms for allegedly starting fires in Riau in 2013
- Environment Ministry also probing 3 other firms for causing fires this year
- Ministry plans to appeal Thursday's acquittal of a company accused of burning peatland in Aceh
'In the same region and the same year, we also filed a lawsuit with the Meulaboh District Court, which we won,' he said.
Himsar said the ministry only had recourse to Law No. 32/2009 on environmental protection and management for its lawsuits.
'Other ministries can use other laws, such as the Forestry Law, but our legal authority is strictly limited to the environmental protection law,' he added.
Bambang Hero Saharjo, who heads a government-sanctioned team comprising the REDD+ Management Agency, the Forestry Ministry and the Riau Police to audit agroforestry companies in Riau, said besides the environmental protection law, the government could use the Forestry Law, the Plantations Law, the Spatial Planning Law as well as the Corruption Law and the Money-Laundering Law.
'The weaknesses in our legal system actually stem from the law enforcers, who don't fully understand the context for enforcing environmental law,' he said.
Bambang said the provisions contained in the law on environmental protection were the most commonly used to charge forest-fire starters.
According to the provisions, the burning of peatland and forests is considered illegal when a company starts a fire ' either deliberately or accidentally ' which causes environmental destruction.
'When they [companies] prepare to open up new land, they have to guard against the threat of a fire. This is every company's responsibility as stipulated in the law,' he added.
PT TFDI and PT SGP, which are among those targeted by the Environment Ministry, are also two of the 18 agroforestry firms currently being audited by the government's auditing team. (idb)
