Top: In September 2022, The DayLight documented its first-ever evidence of kpokolo pictured. Afterward, the newspaper published several other investigations, leading to a ban on that illegal logging activity. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By James Harding Giahyue
MONROVIA – Court documents in a case against four suspected timber smugglers have established reports of collusion between certain illegal loggers and legitimate forestry companies.
Four suspected timber smugglers who operated a sawmill at the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI) told the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga they bought logs from Alpha Logging and Wood Company. The company operated a concession in Lofa and Gbarpolu, which it has abandoned.
The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) is seeking a prison term and US$25,000 for two Chinese men Chaolong and Guoping Zang, a Turkish national Mehmet Onder Erem and a Liberian Terrentius Tidiboh Collins (also known as Terrence Collins).
The FDA has petitioned the court to confiscate and auction thousands of timber the suspects left at the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI) in Suakoko, Bong County.
The accused men deny wrongdoing, arguing Alpha was a legal concessioner. They presented the sale contract showing Alpha selling 3,000 cubic meters of logs to a company for US$200,000 in 2021. It was unclear how the suspects were linked to the company in the sale contract.
But the FDA counterargued that the transactions were done outside of Liberia’s timber-tracking system.
Arguments aside, the documents are likely the first evidence of the connection between kpokolo operatives and legitimate loggers. Kpokolo loggers produced boxlike timber to fit neatly into a container for smuggling. It has dampened the prospects of a forestry sector plagued by decades of illegal activities and mismanagement.
The documents corroborate previous reports about the collaboration. An April investigation by the DayLight, sparking the case, cited a resident of Zorzor who said he was aware of Alpha’s deal with the suspects. Likewise, a report by the US-based Forest Trends found that large-scale companies were involved in Kpokolo transactions, citing community sources and small-scale loggers.
The DayLight first happened upon kpokolo in September 2022. From then on, it would publish several investigations, exposing the illegality of the activities.
In February last year, the FDA said it had banned the activities, which have reemerged amid the lack of publicity on the ban.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ).
