JAKARTA: Indonesian investigators are building criminal cases against eight Southeast Asian companies they suspect of being responsible for raging fires that have blanketed neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia with hasardous smog.
The Environment Ministry last week named the firms for their alleged role in Southeast Asia’s worst air pollution crisis in 16 years, which has raised concerns over public health and hurt business and tourism in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
And investigators could find it hard to pin the blame on specific firms because of the complex ownership of palm oil concessions and pulp and paper holdings on Indonesia’s Sumatra island where most of the fires are burning.
But outrage from Singapore as well as environmental groups is putting pressure on Jakarta. Fires are used to clear land on plantations and can burn for weeks because of peat deposits below the surface.
Three of the firms under investigation are owned by government-linked companies in Malaysia.
Unlike Singapore, Malaysia has not publicly admonished Indonesia over the smog.
An initial on-the-ground investigation by dozens of officials in Sumatra’s Riau province found evidence of fires on land licensed to PT Tunggal Mitra Plantations and PT Bhumireksa Nusa Sejati, said Sudariyono, the Environment Ministry’s enforcement chief.
The two firms are owned by the world’s largest palm oil planter by landbank, Malaysia’s Sime Darby Bhd, via its Indonesian subsidiary Minamas Plantation.
The Environment Ministry and police will decide if there is enough evidence to recommend the attorney general’s office pursue the case further.
Under the 2009 law, anyone found guilty of starting a forest fire can face up to 10 years in jail and 10bn rupiah ($1m) in fines.
The guilty can also have their profits seized, operations shut down and be sued for damages.
REUTERS
