Timber kickbacks scandal: Stand-off in Sarawak ports

By Tony Thien

Malaysiakini

2007-10-23 | Japanese ships are being made to wait at loading points off three ports in Sarawak reportedly as a retaliatory move following the timber kickbacks scandal which came to light seven months ago.

In March, the Japanese media and Malaysiakini reported offshore under-table payments made to a Hong Kong-registered company said to be linked to the Sarawak chief minister's family.

At least nine ships from Japan are being held up in Miri-Kuala Baram, Bintulu-Kemena and Sarikei Tanjung Manis ports, sources quoted staff of a shipping agency as saying.

The main reason for the stand-off is that the Japanese shipowners are now refusing to pay what has been described as 'rebates' of between US$2 and US$3 per cubic metre of timber exports carried by their vessels.

It is not immediately known whether any of the vessels from Japan has left the ports empty-handed.

But a spokesperson for the Miri Port Authority who requested anonymity claimed he was not aware of the delays.

According to him, a log carrier has to submit its cargo manifest to the Customs Department and based on the manifest, they would bill the shipowner through the local agent RM2 per ton as port levy that goes into a fund for port development and expansion.

The Japan Times had earlier reported that a number of Japanese shipping companies belonging to a cartel involved in transportation of Sarawak logs were penalised by Tokyo tax authorities for allegedly under-declaring their income.

It said RM32 million in 'kickbacks' were allegedly paid by nine shipping companies to a Hong Kong-registered company Regent Star said to be linked to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud's family.

But the shippers argued that the payments, made over a period of many years said to be on the directive of the Sarawak chief minister, were legitimate.

Taib Mahmud had made a rare special statement at the State Legislative Assembly in May to deny any involvement in the scandal and took out defamation suits against several parties, including Malaysiakini.

Owned by Taib family members

A source with close links to a Miri-based timber conglomerate told Malaysiakini today that only Japanese-registered ships were affected.

"It is apparently in retaliation over the Regent Star scandal. This has been going on for two to three months," he said.

Talks that Achi Japan Shipping Agency, the exclusive local shipping agency for all log carriers into Sarawak, of allegedly stopping the timber exports from Sarawak to Japan first appeared in a popular local website, Sarawak Talk.

Achi Shipping is owned by Taib's family members.

The Internet posting in Sarawak Talk complained that local workers handling timber logs "are now sitting and waiting for work in the ports".

'When there is no work, there is no pay for them. Now with inflation so high and so rampant, when the workers have no work where can they have money to buy food for their families?'

The posting urged Taib's family to help the port workers by allowing them to resume work.