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Chavalit dares Govt to arrest loggi



Chavalit dares Govt to arrest logging culprits

19.2.98
The Nation

New Aspiration Party leader Chavalit Yongchaiyudh yesterday dared the
government to bring to justice those responsible for the massive illegal
logging in the Salween National Park.

Denying any involvement in the illegal logging, Chavalit said if the
government failed to disclose the wrongdoers' identity, "it will show that
the government is having a problem and is incompetent".

It was Chavalit's first public response to the 'deforestation scandal after
reports and articles linking it to the NAP. Several NAP members are said to
be close to Thai logging firms which had won concessions in Burma.

More than 4,000 trees had been reportedly felled in the park and smuggled
across the border and re-imported as  logs; with Burmese origins.

"I have nothing to do with that. Whoever was involved must face the
consequences of their wrongdoing. It is really a serious crime," Chavalit
said.

"From what I've been hearing, the Salween park is an influential area and
the wrongdoers are part of a big racket. The government must bring all of
them to justice."

Meanwhile, logging tycoon Som Chankrajang, denying involvement in the
scandal, claimed yesterday the Bt5  million in cash given to a deputy
forestry director-general was linked to the deforestation in the Salween
National Park.

Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, chairing a  Cabinet meeting yesterday,
criticised the relevant agencies for their failure to preserve the forests,
saying he would establish a national committee to oversee forest preservation.

Chuan said Interior Ministry permanent secretary Chanasak Yuwaboon would be
chairman of the new committee, which would be entrusted with  probing the
massive illegal logging in the Salween National Park.

Chuan said he had assigned PM's Office secretary general Nipon Prompan to
be in charge of setting up the committee, which would be formed by tomorrow.

"I've informed Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart that I want Chanasak
to chair the committee," Chuan said.

He said the committee members will comprise representatives from the
Agriculture Ministry, Customs Department and other related agencies as well
as inspectors-general from the PM's Office.

Prawat Thanadka, deputy director general of the Royal Forestry Department
(RFD), sparked the graft scandal when he brought the Bt5-million cash,
which he claimed was dropped off at his residence by an unknown person, to
Government House last Thursday, prompting the Agriculture Ministry to
launch a disciplinary investigation into the alleged bribery attempt and
the police to open a criminal probe on the origin of the "hot" money.

Prawat declined to speculate on the source of and the motive behind the
alleged bribe.

Police investigators are waiting for Prawat and his wife to give statements
on possible leads on the attempted kickback and the physical profile of the
person who delivered the money, although they have already traced the cash
to Tak, a business stronghold of Som.

Press reports speculate that either the powerful businessman with the
initial "S"  or a military officer with the initial "Kh", who is a business
partner in the firm that imports logs from Burma, might be behind the money.

Lt Gen Khemachart Nitisiri, a graduate of Chulachomklao Royal Military
Academy Class 9, is a partner in the venture which has extensive logging
dealings in Burma. He earlier claimed he had suspended his involvement in
the logging operations last year.

Making his first public comment since the scandal broke, Som strongly
denied involvement.

"I am not involved with the poaching or the Bt5-million payment. All talk
is pure speculation, I have no knowledge," he told Matichon.

Som insisted he had never engaged in illegal operations like falsifying the
logs' origin. In the so-called "Thai log-wearing-Burmese sarong" operation,
poachers would cut down trees in Thai forests along the western border,
float them down the Salween River, an international border line, and then
bring them back as imported Burmese logs from the border check-points.

"Although I have been m the logging business for a long time, I have done
nothing to cause damage to society or the country," -the 73-year-old
businessman said.

He denied he had pledged before Mae Hong Son governor Phakdi Chompoommg to
refrain from poaching, saying he had not even attend the meeting to which
Phakdi  had summoned him to issue a warning.

He claimed the logging, including the Salween forest plunder, was most
certainly linked to the attempted kickback payment.

In previous press interviews, Som conceded he had connections with the
Karen rebel group and helped to mediate business deals between
Thai-businessmen who obtained Burmese logging concessions and the Karens
who dominate the concession areas.

Appearing on the Nation News Talk programme on Channel 9, Prawat explained
that the deforestation of the Salween and other forests bordering Burma has
risen because Thai businessmen would hire armed Karens to engage in poaching.

The illegal logs, floating down the Salween River, would be classified into
two categories, the white route and the black route, he said.

The white route logs, based on the Burmese logging documents, would become
legitimate after paying import duties and receiving permission from
forestry officials to transport across the border.

The black route logs would "somehow" pass border inspections and become
legitimate even without the genuine certificate of origin.

Prawat said last year he had ordered the seizure of 13,180 logs floating
down the Salween River at the Tak landing in order to trace their origin.

Also yesterday, Agriculture Minister Pongpol Adireksarn said he would not
transfer Prawat and the forestry director general, saying they were doing
their best to protect the forests. In another development, the House
committee on justice and human rights assigned NAP MP Adisorn Piengket to
investigate the alleged Bt5 million bribe.