NEA issues legal notices under haze law to 10 Singapore-based companies, including Asia Pulp & Paper

SINGAPORE – Singapore is widening its probe into companies linked to the haze-causing fires in Indonesia, and has issued legal notices to another 10 firms – all of them based here – asking them to provide more documents and information on their links to fires in Indonesia. 

In a statement issued in the evening of Oct 23, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said the 10 companies it is taking action against under Singapore’s Transboundary Haze Pollution Act (THPA) are: 

These firms are in the oil palm or forestry business, and either own land concessions in Indonesia or have related companies with such concessions.

NEA said it is seeking documents and information from the firms about their links with associated companies in Singapore and Indonesia, along with the locations of land concessions owned by them.

The agency is also looking to find out about the fire prevention measures and firefighting efforts by the firms or their associated companies in Indonesia, it added.

Five of them are listed on the Singapore Exchange.

The NEA’s latest requests for information from the 10 Singapore firms will carry penalties for non-response. Under Section 10 of the Act, representatives from the non-compliant firms can face a fine of up to $5,000, a jail term of up to one month, or both.

This follows NEA’s earlier move to issue preventive measures notices to 10 Indonesian companies. 

Those notices – issued under Section 9 of the Act – had asked the Indonesian firms for more information on how they were preventing or suppressing fires on their lands. There are no penalties for firms involved if they do not respond to these preventive measures requests. 

Introduced in September 2014, the THPA targets those responsible for causing or condoning fires, and can be activated if the haze causes the Pollutant Standards Index, which measures air quality in Singapore, to stay in the unhealthy range in any part of the island for 24 hours or more.

Those guilty under the Act can be fined up to $100,000 a day, with the total capped at $2 million.

The current haze is caused by fires raging in forests and plantations in Indonesia, primarily Kalimantan and Sumatra. 

The blazes are sparked by slash-and-burn practices to clear land. Such practices are illegal in Indonesia, but are still carried out as they are cheaper than removing trees using excavators. 

Singapore on Oct 16 first took action under its haze law when it issued notices to the first seven pulpwood companies, which are based in Sumatra. Three firms in Kalimantan – two pulpwood firms and one oil palm – were issued the preventive measure notices on Oct 19.

The 10 Indonesian firms that NEA had issued the preventive measures notices to are:

The NEA said in the Oct 23 update that it has written to these companies for documents and information about the fires in their concessions and the measures they have taken to put out these fires, as well as their links with associated companies in Indonesia and Singapore.

Among the Singapore-registered companies that NEA has acted against, only APP has ties to the Indonesian firms previously identified.

ST had earlier found that four of the 10 Indonesian firms sent legal notices under the Singapore law are suppliers of APP. They are Bumi Andalas Permai, Bumi Mekar Hijau, SBA Wood Industries and Buana Megatama Jaya.

APP had also been linked to causing fires during the 2015 haze crisis. 

Another two Indonesian firms – Paramitra Mulia Langgeng and Hutan Lestari Raya – also have Singapore links. 

The former is a subsidiary of the Sungai Budi Group, a conglomerate led by Oey Widarto and his nephew Santoso Winata, both of whom are Singapore permanent residents.

Hutan Lestari Raya, on the other hand, counts Singapore PR Erik Setiawan as its director.

In a Facebook post on Oct 23, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said this latest action was an “important next step” to establish facts and gather evidence. She said: “We will examine the links between companies in Singapore and Indonesia and follow the evidence.

“We will also look beyond individual concession holders to larger corporate groups and persons who may ultimately control them.”

Fu added: “Whether companies are based overseas or registered here in Singapore, we will follow the evidence and take errant companies to task where the evidence supports it.”