Top: Krish Veneer Industries operates illegally in Liberia. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
By James Harding Giahyue
MONROVIA – A DayLight investigation has unearthed a top-level forestry company that does not meet the requirements to operate in Liberia.
Krish Veneer Industries, a sawmill in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, and an exporter of veneer and round logs, is a partnership, rendering it ineligible to operate. Forestry companies are restricted to corporations, not NGOs, sole proprietorships, or partnerships, according to the Regulation on Bidder Qualifications.
The 2007 provision is in line with the Public Procurement and Concession Act, meant to provide the government with more tax opportunities and predictability. Corporations have limitless liabilities and lifespan, experts say. Partnerships do not.
The provision is part of measures to ensure forest resources are managed commercially sustainably.
Krish’s two partners are Atique Ahmed and Kamal Parwani. Both Indians, they hold 57 percent and 43 percent shares, respectively, according to the company’s legal documents. It was established in 2019, based on its business registration certificate enrolled at the Libera Business Registry.
‘My plywood factory’
Amid its illegitimacy, Krish has been one of the most active companies in a largely dormant logging industry. Last year, it made several round log exports, according to Ministry of Commerce and Industry and FDA records.
Trade Mo, a US-based company that tracks global supply chains, reports that Krish has imported assorted items 564 times and exported veneer eight times between 2021 and 2024. Those transactions are valued at US$1.2 million. (Derived from trees, a veneer is a thin decorative wood applied to materials).
Clarence Massaquoi, Krish’s general manager, did not return questions about the company’s status. However, in a recent DayLight interview, Massaquoi, whose contract with an unlawful community forest the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) recently approved, referenced Krish.
Addressing his capacity to manage a forest following an unsuccessful previous contract, Massaquoi said, “I have buyers. I can sell to my plywood factory. My buyers are right in Buchanan,” Massaquoi told The DayLight.
FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab did not respond to queries.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
