Top: Some of the logs LiberTrace red-flagged for having multiple issues but the FDA still allowed to be shipped. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Esau J. Farr
MONROVIA – The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) permitted a company to export round logs mid-last year. However, the regulator ignored its computerized system—known as LiberTrace—red-flagged over 60 percent of the timber.
Out of the total 431 logs, Iroko Timber and Logging Corporation submitted for two shipments, LiberTrace identified 267 as problematic.
LiberTrace, which tracks logs from their sources to final destinations, found the logs’ details were inconsistent with the system’s information. Most of the logs had not been recorded during a pre-export inspection.
For instance, some logs had their butt-end diameters different from what Iroko declared. Others had volumes different from the ones submitted, while other logs had discrepancies with the lengths the Nigerian-owned company declared.
But the LiberTrace analysis and the export specs detailing each log shipped establish that the FDA allowed the tainted logs to go.
The combined 431 logs with a 2,549-cubic-meter volume, were loaded at the Port of Greenville, Sinoe County and departed on April 27 and July 2, 2024, on the Panamanian cargo ship MV Nimeh, destined for Bangladesh.
‘Nothing to add’
Based on the FDA’s standard operating procedures (SOPs) the regulator should have investigated the red flags and sought correction. If not, the SOPs provide the export to be disapproved. “Wood products that are not compliant with the legality definition shall not be authorized for export,” according to SOPs for export.
A screenshot from some of LiberTrace’s analysis of one of two Iroko exports last year the FDA unlawfully approved
The SOPs allow for the FDA to override LiberTrace’s alarms. However, in such a case, the FDA is required to record the justification for overriding the red flags for auditing. Screenshots of LiberTrace’s history of the logs prove there were no justifications for the FDA’s decision to approve the exports.
Those standards contribute to LiberTrace ensuring tax-complaint companies’ logs are legal, not just traceable. LiberTrace plays a critical role in the forestry sector, particularly in combating illegal logging and enhancing transparency in the timber trade. SGS, a Swiss verification company, built the system and the FDA co-manages it.
Confronted with the red flags, Theodore Nna, SGS’ project manager, did not respond to queries. Nna did the same last year in a similar incident. He had sarcastically offered The DayLight a tutorial in interpreting LiberTrace’s data and analysis.
The FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab declined to speak on the matter. “I believe my team handled this Iroko issue last year…,” Merab said in a WhatsApp chat. “I have nothing new to add!”
A screenshot of LiberTrace’s history of one of Iroko’s exports shows that the FDA did not justify why it overrode errors with several logs for auditing purposes.
Last year, the FDA dismissed reports as a “misinterpretation” of data. It argued that the errors and warnings LiberTrace sounded were routine “minor occurrences.”
Similarly, Iroko did not return emailed questions. The company had initially responded to the DayLight’s inquiries but ceased after the newspaper exposed a series of its wrongdoings.
This investigation adds to the logs’ taint and Iroko’s notoriety. A previous investigation found the logs spent over a year in the Central River Dugbe Community Forest in Sinoe County’s Jaedae District. One unearthed Iroko owed local people a good sum. Another revealed an Iroko shareholder was unqualified for logging over a co-ownership of a company punished for fraud.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: The headquarters of Libfor Forest Inc. in Riverview, Caldwell. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By James Harding Giahyue and Derick Snyder
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a series that exposes Libfor Forest Corporation, an illegal timber trafficking company, operating in the Monrovian suburb of Caldwell.
CALDWELL – A DayLight investigation has uncovered an illegal timber trafficking company in the Caldwell neighborhood of Riverview. Libfor Forest Corporation. coordinates illegal logging activities in and out of Liberia, packages the wood at an unlicensed sawmill and smuggles them in containers, depriving the Liberian government of much-needed revenue.
Public records and other evidence obtained by The DayLight show that Libfor has never traded through the legal channel for timber harvested, transported, processed, imported, or exported from Liberia, known as LiberTrace.
Yet, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s records show that Libfor shipped 55,000 cubic meters of sawn timber in a 20-foot container on May 2 last year with a value of US$22,000.
Also, data compiled by British firm Experian, which tracks global trade, show Libfor has exported 51 times since June 2022. The latest shipments went to Turkey.
The US-based The Trade Vision, Another data company whose report is consistent with Experian’s, finds that Libfor’s exports to a single company last year were valued at US$71,447.
An internal document shows Libfor predominantly exports Iroko, a high-quality timber species selling for US$390 on the world market. Due to its durability, it is used in shipbuilding, outdoor construction and furniture.
The Iroko information is consistent with the one provided by the Ministry of Commerce, Experian and Trade Vision. The document suggests that Libfor predominately smuggles Iroko in different sizes via the Freeport of Monrovia 7.6 miles away.
Libfor’s setup matches a class A sawmill, which means the company has deprived the government of US$2,500 for each year it has operated. The same with export fees, local communities’ benefits and other payments, including for an environmental permit.
‘Black manager’
Libfor Forest Corporation, solely owned by Amara Fofana, a Liberian, was established in 2021. It is the one that has conducted the smuggling, the national and international trade databases.
But Süleyman Karabacak, a Turkish national, is Libfor’s practical owner.
Fofana recruits workers and runs the business’ errands, based on a previous DayLight investigation. Karabacak, on the other hand, manages the business, including finances and exports.
In 2023, Fofana signed a contract with Sierra Leonean chainsaw millers for illegal activities in Nimba, exposed in the investigation. The newspaper had published the bogus contract and oversized timber the chainsaw millers produced, compelling Fofana to admit to the wrongdoing. The contract also had Karabacak’s contact number, which a call app identifies as “Turkish buyer.”
“It is the white man who owns the company. Fofana is just the black manager,” one source said. “It is Süleyman [Karabacak] who has the money, who owns the machines.”
Karabacak also co-owns Libfor Forestry Inc., another company created on December 21, 2023, and registered earlier this month, per its article of incorporation and business registration certificate. Its other owner is Ibrahim Halil Sever, whose nationality The DayLight could not determine.
Before Karabacak, Hasan Uzan, another Turk, ran Libfor, Riverview residents and people familiar with the company, told The DayLight. Uzan was blacklisted by the Forestry Development Authority in 2023 for illegal logging in Nimba County. The sources identified Uzan in a picture with another Turk when police arrested the pair.
Photographs and videos The DayLight shot and obtained further unravel Libfor’s criminal world. Workers work with machines to rip thick, heavy timber into different dimensions. Loads of sawn wood adorned various locations, with a Caucasian person’s foot and fingers in some of the pictures. In another picture, men weld a truck destined to transport timber.
Screenshots of sawn timber export record of Libfor Forest Corporation also known as Libfor Forestry Inc. by British firm Experian
Drone shots of the sawmill corroborated the photographs and videos. They show guards manning the facility as men work. In one video, a person can be seen throwing something at the drone as it hovered over the walled property that headquarters Libfor.
‘In the bush’
But where do Libfors source their timber? Does it smuggle in sawn wood, too? The answers lie in our previous investigation of the company, interviews with customs and immigration officers, sources knowledgeable about Libfor’s activities, and public databases. Our 2023 investigation uncovered that Libfor had 20 chainsaws and deployed six Sierra Leoneans to operate them. The men, who were unregulated migrants, harvested some 460 pieces of Iroko in Karnplay in Nimba’s Gbeh-lay District.
Workers of Libfor workers operate a mobile sawmill to rip oversized timber in the company’s year in Riverview, Caldwell.
“We hauled some on the road, and the rest are in the bush,” Aruna Kamara, one of the men told The DayLight.
The Iroko timber were three inches thick, one inch more than the approved dimension for chainsaw-milled timber supplied domestically. Oversized timber are relatively a new illegal trade known across the industry as “kpokolo.”
By that time, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) had banned kpokolo after permitting it for over a decade. That ban would be followed by a prohibition on the issuance of permits that fueled the illegal trade, according to minutes of one of the FDA’s recent board meetings, seen by The DayLight.
Fofana, the company’s frontman, claimed that the men had failed to follow instructions. Libfor made furniture to compete with Lebanese merchants. He had recruited the Sierra Leoneans because “There are no good operators in Liberia.”
But he somersaulted when confronted with the contract Libfor had given the men, instructing them to cut timber three inches thick, 13 inches wide and 15 feet long.
“I will reduce it because I can’t fight the government,” Fofana said at the time. He later claimed he reduced the wood, Smart News reported.
Fofana provided no evidence the timber were reduced or used to make furniture. Unfortunately, The DayLight did not have any evidence that Libfor was exporting wood at the time. Drone shots and pictures The DayLight obtained last December show oversized timber in Libfor’s yard. In one of the pictures, two men operate a mobile sawmill with kpokolo fastened to it.
“First they used to bring round logs for sawing but now they saw the wood in the bush themselves,” one source said. “They only [rip] it into smaller sizes at the sawmill.”
Sierra Leone
Different sources said Libfor also gets its timber from Gbarpolu and Sierra Leone.
In an audio recording obtained by The DayLight, Foday Kallon, a cross-border trucker, can be heard explaining how he transports wood from Sierra Leone. Kallon says he does not present any documents to Sierra Leonean immigration and customs officers at Bo Waterside, Liberia’s western border with Sierra Leone the border. He only pays customs duties on the Liberian side of the border.
The DayLight interviewed Kallon via WhatsApp and he added more information. He revealed that he had transported timber up to 80 inches in thickness, sourcing the wood in Kono and other parts of Sierra Leone.
“When you buy the wood, you need to hire a car from me and you pay me. I can carry your wood from Sierra Leone to Liberia. I, Mr. Kallon, will be there for you anytime you are ready. I will invite you to Sierra Leone or if you want to see me in Liberia, we discuss how you will pay, and how we will come and buy the woods. You and I can come to Sierra Leone and buy your wood and I will transport your wood from Sierra Leone to Liberia,” he told our reporter.
Liberian and Sierra Leonean immigration and customs officers, who asked not to be named as they were not authorized to speak, corroborated Kallon’s account. We obtained a picture of timber in a truck that eyewitnesses said Libfor imported over the weekend.
This supports a 2018 World Bank report that found Liberia imported over US$10,580 worth of timber from Sierra Leone, the third-largest importer of Sierra Leonean timber after China (US$20,295) and Belgium (US$14,230).
Sierra Leonean authorities did not respond to queries from a DayLight associate. The DayLight has reached out to the Liberia Revenue Authority and will update this story with the LRA’s response.
‘We can’t sleep’
Riverview residents have had issues with Libfor for causing noise pollution and spoiling the community’s road. The community—close to the St. Paul River, giving it a waterfront scenery—has watched as Libfor scars the secluded, suburban community.
Mary Toe, an elderly woman who lives behind Libfor’s fence, complained about the noise from the woodwork. “I can’t sleep at night,” she told The DayLight. “The people work all night.”
Other residents backed Toe’s comments. Hassan Kamara, a concerned youth, said Libfor’s container truck spoiled Riverview’s main road, sparking a protest.
French, Turkish, and Dutch
Libfor sheds light on the widespread irregularities and the general downturn of forestry. A recent review of the sector found only five out of 11 logging companies were active, and that none met legal requirements to operate. Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) reports that the sector generated US$7.65 million from July 2021 to December 2022, a far cry from 8.5 million in 2018 alone.
Sierra Leonean Timber blocks such as these are smuggled to Liberia on container trucks
The Regulation on Establishing a Chain of Custody requires all timber harvested, transported, processed, exported, or imported to pass through Liberia’s timber tracking LiberTrace. Trading outside LiberTrace is an offense, with violators facing a prosecution, forfeiture of their vehicles and equipment, and a prison term, according to the Regulation on Confiscated Logs…
Libfor did not answer questions The DayLight posed to it. Karabacak claims he only speaks French, even though documents prove he speaks and writes English.
So, The DayLight translated the questions into French, Turkish and Dutch, the two nationalities of Libfor Forestry Inc. Nevertheless, Karabacak did not respond.
Instead, Karabacak informed Fofana, who called the newspaper and scheduled an interview that day. However, Fofana, too, did not turn out. He evaded an interview in Cape Mount and two schedules for Monrovia.
Top: Some of the 431 logs Iroko Timber and Logging Company harvested and took about a year and six months to export. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Esau J. Farr
MONROVIA – The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) permitted the export of 2,549 cubic meters of abandoned logs, failing to punish the company involved, and losing substantial revenue.
Iroko Logging and Timber Company exported two consignments of logs on May 7 and July 18 last year, based on official documents. The combined 431 logs were shipped to Chittagong, Bangladesh via the cargo ship MV Nimeh.
But that was more than one-and-a-half years after the logs were harvested in the Central River Dugbe Community Forest in Sinoe County.
Iroko had harvested the logs in October 2022, per the Nigerian-owned company’s website and Facebook page. It only transported the 431 logs from the Jaedae District woodland to an open field near Greenville in February and March last year, residents and other sources said.
That violates the Regulation on Abandoned Logs, Timber and Timber Products. The 2017 regulation requires all logs to be transported, processed, or exported between three weeks and six months after harvesting.
If a log stays in a particular location outside the regulatory timeframe, the FDA is obligated to investigate, auction the logs, or fine the company that harvested them. The fine includes a tenth, a twentieth and a fortieth of twice the total value of the abandoned logs, depending on the species classes.
Because the FDA did not do that with Iroko, the government lost US$103,387, according to The DayLight’s analysis, based on the export permits and the regulation.
To arrive at the fine, the newspaper grouped each species of the logs and doubled their volumes. Next, it multiplied the total volumes by their corresponding, FDA-approved prices and added those products. Then it added all of the first-class species, based on the FDA’s categorization, and found 10 percent of that sum.
The newspaper did the same with the second-class ones, finding five percent of the sum this term. Finally, it added the percentage values of the two classes to establish what should have been Iroko’s fine and the government’s revenue.
The loss of US$103,387 comes when the forestry sector faces a downturn in revenue generation. From July 2021 to December 2022, the sector generated US$7.65 million, the least in the extractive sector despite Liberia holding the largest patches of West Africa’s remaining rainforests.
That figure could be more, though. Iroko left several logs in the Central River Dugbe Community Forest, according to residents.
A screenshot from Iroko Timber and Logging Company’s Facebook page showing the logs were harvested on October 14, 2022, more than one-and-a-half years before they exported.
Bartee Togba, the chief officer of the community forest, corroborated the residents’ account. Togba said villagers had counted over 60 logs in the woodland on the border with Grand Kru. “There were more logs,” he said, and there would be an additional counting.
Following the second of two DayLight investigations last year, the FDA promised to investigate Iroko over the logs’ abandonment but did not. The regulator did not respond to queries for comment.
From July to August last year, Iroko paid the Liberian government US$173,432, covering export, land rental and other fees. The evidence, however, shows that the company owed the government US$16,263 in land rental fees.
That August, Iroko asked the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) to pay the balance due in September and October. The LRA agreed.
“If we default on this agreement, our tax debt may be referred to the Ministry of Justice to sue for the unpaid tax and or court’s authorization to seize and sell our property,” the agreement’s terms and conditions read.
But the money has not been paid, according to Iroko’s tax payment record, seen by The DayLight. Despite months of notice, Iroko and the LRA did not respond to inquiries for comments.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: African Wood and Lumber Company abandoned hundreds of logs in Compound Number Two, Grand Bassa, with people burning some. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Emmanuel Sherman
MONROVIA – In the rainy season of 2020, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) investigated the scale of abandoned logs in Grand Bassa, River Cess, and Nimba Counties.
Investigators were stunned by what they discovered: several companies had left thousands of logs in the bush, on open fields, at sawmills, and other locations for long periods.
“Valuable species are continuously being harvested by logging companies without first securing sales contracts,” the investigators said in a report, “only to leave those logs unattended.”
A signboard at a log yard used by Coveiyalah on the Bomi highway supported the investigator’s findings. It read: “Timber sale.” Investigators recommended that the FDA curtail the situation. The signboard came down not long after.
Four years after the report—spanning two administrations—the FDA has yet to take any concrete action despite officially vowing on various occasions, to tackle the problem. Abandoned logs are symbols of the meltdown of the forestry sector, with companies deserting contracts, leaving debts and logs in their wake.
Abu Musa Kamara, campaigner at the National Union of Community Forestry Development Committee, calls on the FDA to verify companies’ capacity before approving contracts. He urges constant monitoring and enforce forestry’s legal laws and regulations.
A 2020 FDA investigation established that companies were felling trees before securing sale contracts as seen in this 2022 picture. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
“If these things happen, there will be no abandoned logs in concession areas,” Kamara tells The DayLight in an email.
The regulation replaced a previous one that had proven ineffective seven years ago and undermined the regulator’s mandate to avoid waste of forest resources. Under the current regulation, the FDA must investigate and petition a court to auction abandoned logs.
‘Learning curve’
In 2022, the FDA ordered all companies to declare their production in LiberTrace, Liberia’s log-tracking system. It was a bid to tackle the situation albeit two years after the investigators’ report.
Later that year, then-Managing Director Mike Doryen said in a DayLight interview the regulator would begin auctioning logs that month. “We… will continue in the northern region and then go down south and [the] western part,” Doryen said.
In the end, nothing happened, as more evidence emerged of companies leaving logs. The Italian-registered African Wood and Lumber left logs on a field in Grand Bassa, with some burned. The Lebanese-owned Masayaha abandoned some 600 nearby. At least 500 Sing Africa logs rotted outside of Buchanan alongside hundreds of logs other companies dashed. Elsewhere, a DayLight investigation uncovered about 5,000 logs abandoned by the International Consultant Capital in the Gbi-Doru District, Nimba County.
Doryen’s timeframe was legally impossible, and his comments were dishonest—or at least ignorant. Per the regulation, auctioning timber takes months. Moreover, there is no record that the FDA filed a required petition at any circuit court countrywide to seize abandoned logs.
Doryen would tell the Associated Press a year later that the FDA had approved exports of abandoned logs outside of the legal process as “part of the learning curve.”
A DayLight investigation established Iroko abandoned hundreds of logs it harvested latest October 2022. They were recently exported without any due process, according to community leaders. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
In early 2023, the FDA announced it had suspended several companies’ harvesting certificates in Sinoe. The list included Malaysian-listed Mandra, which had abandoned about 7,000 logs, likely the largest The DayLight recorded.
“This decision is prompted by the failure of these companies to honor the mandate from the FDA to enrol all logs harvested in LiberTrace,” read an FDA statement. “Companies in both categories, suspended certificates and otherwise, may be subject to further [penalties]…”
Again, no public records that show the FDA punished the companies.
Unlawful
The FDA’s biggest-known abandoned logs lie occurred during last year’s presidential elections. On October 31, it published a notice on suspicion of abandoned logs on its website and ELBC.
A week later, the FDA petitioned the Zorzor, Magisterial Court in Lofa County to begin the process. “We hereby request Your Honor and this honorable court for a search and seizure warrant,” read the petition.
A screenshot of FDA’s Deputy Managing Director Gertrude Nyaley exposing her involvement in an unlawful abandoned logs petition during last year’s presidential elections. Facebook/Gertrude Wade Korvayan Nyaley
But that petition was unlawful and may have exposed the FDA’s dishonesty. The abandoned logs regulation requires the FDA to file a seizure application at a circuit court, not a magisterial court.
Also, the time interval between the announcement and the petition was short. Per the regulation, the petition should have been filed over a month after several notices.
Deputy Managing Director Gertrude Nyaley was one of two attorneys who signed the petition. She was the technical manager of the FDA’s legality verification department (LVD) then.
She did not respond to two questions in 19 days about her direct involvement in the unlawful process.
International Consultant Capital abandoned 5,000 logs in Gbi-Doru District, Nimba County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
No progress
Things remain the same under Doryen’s successor Rudolph Merab. Like Doryen, Merab has not lived up to his commitment to confront the abandoned logs problem.
This April, two months after his induction as FDA’s boss, he happened upon mounts of sundried logs in the southeast. Merab vowed to tackle the problem head-on Spoon FM reported.
A July DayLight investigation—a follow-up to an initial one published over a year ago—found the Nigerian company Iroko Timber a Logging Company abandoned some 700 logs in Sinoe. FDA’s commercial department promised to investigate the company but did not.
The logs were recently exported, roughly two years since they were harvested, according to Bartee Togba, the chief officer of the Central River Dugbe Community Forest the company operates.
A recent review of forestry concessions by the US-based NGO Forest Trends recommends that the FDA documents the scale of abandoned logs and sets up a database. That, too, has not happened.
Many logs transported to log yards across Liberia remain there until they rot. The DayLight/Eric Opa Doue
Merab did not return The DayLight’s queries and follow-ups, reversing a trend he had set. However, Merab told the Associated Press last April that he intended to scrap regulations that were “cumbersome” and “repressive.”
Amid the FDA’s dishonesty and failure, the Commercial Court authorized the sales of abandoned logs to pay off companies’ debts.
Perhaps the first publicized one is the case between Alma Wood and AfriLand Bank, which occurred before Merab. Co-owned by Lebanese businessman El Zein Hassan, Alma Wood defaulted on a US$63,000 loan from Afriland Bank. The court ordered the bank to auction Alma Wood’s properties, including 5,000 cubic meters of logs harvested in Grand Cape Mount County between 2018 and 2020.
Other cases involve Sing Africa, Alpha Logging and Wood Processing Company, and Guaranty Trust Bank (Liberia) Limited. Sing Africa borrowed US$ 3 million from GT Bank on June 14, 2021. When it failed to pay the loan, the court authorized the bank to auction the company’s assets valued over US$7 million, including logs it abandoned in Lofa and Gbarpolu.
The Court had earlier permitted the bank to auction 15,000 cubic meters of logs belonging to Sing Africa and Alpha.
Forestry experts say the banks’ auctions will reduce the government’s revenue and communities, benefits, and expose the system failure. Normally, auction fees should go to the government and the communities where the logs were felled. In this case, the banks take a big portion of the money.
“If the FDA had enforced the abandoned logs regulation, the banks would be left with only other fixed assets,” says an expert who does not want to be named.
Jonathan Yiah the lead forestry campaigner at the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), an NGO instrumental in formulating forestry’s legal framework, agrees.
“The bank shouldn’t be a priority at the expense of the community and the government,” Yiah says, “though sometimes it is the government’s negligence that we are having this conversation.”
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: The unfinished guesthouse in Karquekpo, Sinoe County. Picture credit: Anonymous
By Esau J. Farr
KARQUEKPO, Sinoe County – The People who own the Central River Dugbe Community Forest had hoped that they would get a guesthouse for their Independence Day celebration—or their “26.”
A Nigerian-owned Iroko Timber and Logging Company leased 13,193 hectares of land from the leadership of the forest in exchange for the guesthouse and other benefits.
But photographs and a video The DayLight obtained captured on Thursday show the project barely at window level.
“Nobody is expecting the keys to that building tomorrow,” said Cyrus Kartor, a youth leader in Karquekpo, where the guesthouse is being constructed.
Bartee Togba, the chief officer of the forest in Sinoe’s Jaedae District, had said the guesthouse was being completed in less than a day. “They are working there presently as I speak to you. Tomorrow (July 26) they may also go to work. I am sure,” Togba said.
The pictures and video show there has been no work at the construction site for some time.
The guesthouse is one of several projects Iroko is required to conduct, according to the contract. It was initially expected to be turned over to locals in October last year but was extended by nine months.
The unfinished dirt block guesthouse indicates Iroko’s lack of capacity to run a community forest. Recent DayLight investigations found Iroko owes locals land rental, harvesting and others to the community, while it has abandoned an unspecified number of logs.
Another view of the unfinished guesthouse. Picture credit: Anonymous
An earlier DayLight investigation uncovered Iroko was unqualified for logging when the FDA approved its contract in 2021. Its majority shareholder, Timothy Odebunmi, is linked to another company, Akewa, which was fined for fraud in 2019.
A forestry regulation disqualifies companies whose shareholders have been involved in an act of public dishonesty for five years.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: An Iroko Timber and Logging Company log yard outside Greenville, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Esau J. Farr
KARQUEKPO, Sinoe County – In early 2022, there were widespread jubilations across the eight towns that own Central River-Dugbe Community Forest. They had leased the 13,193-hectare woodland to Iroko Timber and Logging Corporation for 15 years in exchange for development benefits.
But more than two years later, Iroko failed to live up to the agreement. It owes the villagers a huge debt and required projects.
“Our expectation was to bring development to our district and various towns…, including schools, clinics and safe drinking water for our people,” Alexander Slah, a member of the community leadership, said. “I am actually disappointed.”
As it stands, Iroko owes the Central River Dugbe Community US$20,368, based on interviews and official records. These fees include land rental, educational support, volunteer teachers and forest protection. Unpaid harvesting fees stand at US$8,927, according to official records.
The harvesting fees could be higher. Iroko declared 523 logs constituting 3,570.848 cubic meters, official records show. However, it abandoned some of the logs in the forest, locals say. Bartee Togba, the head of the community’s leadership, said he and other townspeople would scale the wood to determine Iroko’s full debt.
Besides unpaid fees, Iroko has failed to undertake contractual projects. It has not constructed five hand pumps it should have completed by last year, according to the contract.
Two Iroko machines in Polay Town, one of the communities that own the Central River Dugbe Community Forest. The DayLight/James Giahyue
“Instead of installing the hand pumps between November and March, the company started in June to August. So, the water table goes low during the dry season…,” Slah said. Arthur Nagbe, a religious leader in Karquekpo, corroborated his account.
Iroko is yet to construct three boundary roads connected to Karquekpo and a guesthouse, which should have all been completed last October. The renovation of an elementary school and the construction of a library that should have been completed this December, according to the agreement, have not also started.
‘Handpicked’
Like Iroko’s external failures, there are indications of internal disappointments since its establishment in July 2021.
Iroko targets 100,000 hectares in 15 years but cannot even manage 13,193 hectares so far. The firm projected production of 50,000 cubic meters of logs as of this year but has produced only 3,570 cubic meters of logs since 2022, official records show.
It declared that it owned eight earthmovers and leased nine others. However, it has been seen with way fewer. One old machine is at the log yard near Greenville and two others were parked in Polay Town after Karquekpo.
Togba criticized the FDA for the Iroko situation. “They (FDA) must know that they have equipment that is up to standard but these things were not done,” he said.
But townspeople The DayLight interviewed blamed the community leadership for choosing Iroko. They said community leaders who vetted Iroko did not have the experience to do so. “They were handpicked,” said Ernest Slah, a resident, in an interview on Somalia Drive, outside Monrovia.
Togba dismisses that claim. He claims only the government has the responsibility to vet companies, though locals have that right in community forest.
Iroko is a new company and did not have a track record at the time it signed the Central River Dugbe contract but its majority shareholder, Timothy Odebunmi, was a red flag. The Nigerian has a record of persistent, perennial indebtedness to communities through his other company, Akewa.
Akewa had owed communities hundreds of thousands of United States dollars for over a decade. One of its contracts was cancelled with unpaid fees and another has been embroiled in a lengthy debt-related out-of-court settlement.
Timothy Odebunmi, the majority shareholder in Iroko Timber and Logging Company, also owns a fifth of Akewa Group of Companies’ shares. His ownership in the latter company disqualified the former from logging activities in Liberia. Facebook/Timothy Odebunmi
That aside, Odebunmi’s shares in Iroko disqualified the company from conducting logging activities in Liberia at the time of the Central River Dugbe contract. Odebunmi has a 20-percent stake in Akewa Group of Companies, which was fined for forgery in 2019. The FDA’s Regulation on Bidder Qualifications rules out companies whose owners are linked to public dishonesty for five years. The FDA ignored that rule and prequalified Iroko.
Lied under oath
Iroko shrugs off claims and indications of struggling to live up to its contract and denies any wrongdoing.
“We don’t know what constitutes a ‘capacity issue’ from your point of view, and can, therefore, not address your question,” Iroko said in an email.
“We would like to state that Mr. Timothy Odebunmi is not aware of having own a share in Akewa, and also Mr. Timothy [Odebunmi] has no knowledge of any tax clearance forgery issue as alleged,” it added.
Iroko’s claims are not factual. More than one year ago, The DayLight exposed Odebunmi’s connection to Akewa in which the newspaper emailed the company about its findings. Moreover, a recent review of the forestry sector lists Odebunmi as an Akewa shareholder.
Iroko’s machine photographed in its log yard near Greenville. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
Iroko might have avoided the capacity issue. However, everything about the company’s operations is suggestive of a struggle for survival.
Two months ago, the FDA approved the export permit of Iroko to sell over 2,600 cubic meters but it has not exported the consignment. It has not exported any of the logs it harvested nearly two years ago. A recent DayLight investigation found the logs are abandoned, as some six months have passed since they were harvested, the longest period a log should stay anywhere before export. The FDA said it would investigate the abandoned logs accusation.
The FDA argued it approved Iroko’s contract because it had no list of debarred companies or individuals. The regulator further said it could not enforce the qualification regulation because Iroko did not bid for Central River Dugbe.
Those assertions are not backed by law. While the regulation requires the FDA to form a debarment and suspension list, it does not restrict a company or individual’s eligibility to the list. An individual’s eligibility is covered under the prequalification criteria, the standard for that person’s participation in logging activities.
The fact Iroko was prequalified with Odebunmi’s stakes shows that the company lied under oath. Per the regulation, the Nigerian firm should be prosecuted for perjury. The FDA referenced that provision when it certificated Iroko: “Any statement made under oath to the panel that is found to be false renders this certificate null and void.”
Locals are running out of patience over Iroko’s delay in meeting its contract obligations. They have planned a meeting to discuss their future with the company after the Independence Day celebrations. Some have already made up their minds.
“We are disappointed because the company failed us,” said Arthur Nagbe, a community leader. “I don’t even want to work with them again.”
This story was a production of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ).
Top: Iroko transferred most of the abandoned logs in February this year, one year and four months after they were harvested in the Central Dugbe River Community Forest. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Matenneh Keita and Esau J. Farr
KARQUEKPO, Sinoe County – In 2022, Timothy Odebunmi, joined two other Nigerian businessmen to establish Iroko Timber Logging Corporation in July 2021. Odebunmi has 50 percent shares, Samson Odebunmi, his relative, 45 percent, and Akinsiku Arinkan five percent.
The following year, Iroko signed a contract with the Central River Dugbe Community Forest. By October, it began harvesting logs in the 13,193-hectare woodland in Sinoe’s Jaedae District near the Grand Kru border.
It is unclear how many logs Iroko has felled. The FDA record shows 523 logs. However, Bartee Togba, the head of Central River Dugbe leadership, puts the number to about 700. Videos posted to Iroko’s Facebook page in July last year show workers hauling logs with an earthmover.
Under the regulation, logs are abandoned when unattended between 15 and 180 working days after felling, depending on their location.
The DayLight videotaped hundreds of logs on an open field in Dioh’s Town on the Greenville-Karquekpo route. Sources, including residents of that community, said the logs were only transferred there in February this year.
A screenshot of Iroko’s website shows the logs were harvested before or in October, nearly more than three times the legal time frame for a log anywhere to be abandoned.
Togba said some of the logs were still in the forest and wanted to document them. “I’m going to put the forest guards together… to carry them in the forest and record all of [that] information on those abandoned logs,” Togba said in an interview at his house in Karquekpo. He did not return queries on his findings after the interview despite repeated phone conversations.
The FDA has taken no concrete steps to deter Iroko or any other company from abandoning logs, now a sector normal. Between 2020 and 2023, Managing Director Mike Doryen made several pronouncements, including a public announcement in November last year, but never acted. Recently, current Managing Director Rudolph Merab toured the southeast, highlighting the issue but has done nothing more.
The FDA record shows that the agency approved Iroko’s permit to export 349 logs this May, something Iroko said it was “finalizing” soon. However, in an interview with The DayLight, William Pewu, FDA’s technical manager for community forestry, said the regulator would investigate.
“If Iroko has abandoned logs or woods, we are not aware of that,” Pewu said. “We have to first of all validate whether the information we are getting [is authentic]. We have to do a follow-up.”
Pewu’s assertion of being unaware of Iroko’s abandoned log situation is not backed by facts. The DayLight published an investigation on the issue more than a year ago. The FDA did not return questions the newspaper asked regarding Iroko at the time.
An elevated view of Iroko’s log yard with a solitary earthmover and a makeshift security booth. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
The FDA must investigate a piece of abandoned log information, according to the regulation, and publish its findings. The regulation further mandates the agency to seize and auction said logs with a court warrant, following several public notices. Penalties for the offense include fines and contract forfeiture.
‘[Overvalued]’
Iroko’s struggles suggest it cannot conduct logging activities in Central River Dugbe.
It claims it owns eight earthmovers and leases nine others, according to one official document. However, it has been seen with only a few equipment in the last three years. An old machine at the log yard and two in Polay Town, one of the eight communities that own the forest.
The document shows Iroko targets 100,000 hectares of forests in the region in 15 years but it has grappled to manage just 13,193 hectares in three.
Iroko plans to run a centralized log yard near Greenville, from where it would produce about 50,000 cubic meters of logs each harvesting season. Yet, its current log yard is smaller than a football pitch. Reporters did not have to fly a drone high to capture all of the logs, a solitary earthmover and a makeshift security booth last month.
Togba said Iroko’s capacity troubles were glaring. He said the company had been “[overvalued],” accusing the FDA of not assessing Iroko’s financial and logistical capacities.
“The law says before FDA gives the company permit…, they should first of all view their equipment. They must know the company has an equipment that is up to standard but these things were not done,” Togba said.
Two Iroko machines in Polay Town, Sinoe County in 2023. The DayLight/James Giahyue
“What I suspect in their operation is there is no active equipment. Looking at the poor arrangement based on the equipment that brought all of that mess, the company doesn’t have the financial capability to operate,” Togba added.
Official documents appear to support Togba’s comments. It took Iroko barely two weeks to get prequalified for logging in Liberia. It registered as the company on July 7, 2021, and was prequalified on July 23, 2021, according to its article of incorporation and prequalification certificate.
Iroko’s situation mirrors that of Akewa Group of Companies, another Nigerian firm in which Odebunmi has 20 percent shares. Beginning in 2008, Akewa failed to live up to each one of its four contracts in Grand Bassa, Margibi and Grand Cape Mount. It is locked in an arbitration proceeding with the Margibi community over locals’ forest benefits.
Iroko dismisses indications of its capacity issues. “We are a business entity and we work with positives and challenges of the business environment,” Iroko said in emailed responses to The DayLight’s queries. It would not make specific comments on challenges.
‘Null and void’
The FDA could have prevented the situation had it disapproved of Iroko’s contract, due to Odebunmi’s shares in Akewa. Back in 2019, Akewa was fined US$1,000 forging another company’s tax clearance to acquire a contract in Grand Cape Mount County.
Approving the Iroko-Central-River-Dugbe contract—with Odebunmi as a shareholder—violates the Regulation on Bidder Qualifications. The regulation debars shareholders of companies that commit any acts of public dishonesty for five years. Only three years had passed when the FDA approved Iroko’s contract.
Iroko said Odebunmi was unaware of his shares in Akewa and “has never signed any document to that effect.” It said Odebunmi did not know of Akewa’s tax fraud.
But those statements are not backed by facts. Odebunmi has owned a fifth of Akewa’s shares since 2010, through two amendments, Akewa’s legal documents show. A recent review of the forestry sector by the U.S.-based Forest Trends also captures Odebunmi as an Akewa shareholder.
Speaking on its illegal approval of Iroko’s contract, the FDA said it did not have a list of debarred companies and individuals, and that it needed a court action to enforce debarment. The FDA further said it could not enforce the qualification regulation because Iroko did not bid for Central River Dugbe. Like Iroko’s, the FDA’s assertions are not backed by facts.
Up: A page from Akewa’s article of incorporation shows Timothy Odebunmi as a 20-percent shareholder in the company. Here: A page from Iroko’s legal documents reveals Timothy Odebunmi as a 50-percent shareholder.
Though the qualification regulation mandates the FDA to form a list of debarred persons, other provisions on eligibility are not subject to the list. For instance, the Yes-or-No Prequalification Criteria requires a firm seeking prequalification not to have any shareholders connected to forgery.
The FDA’s claim that it could not apply the regulation because Iroko was not bidding for a contract contradicts its actions. The qualification regulation does not only cover bidding. It also contains requirements for the rights to conduct forestry activities in Liberia.
Moreover, the FDA applied such a provision by warning Iroko against perjury, which has nothing to do with the debarment list.
“Any statement made under oath to the panel that is found to be false renders this certificate null and void,” Iroko’s prequalification certificate reads. The three-year document will expire later this month.
This story was a production of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ).
Top: A poster showing the illegal logging activities by Michael Feika in Totoquelleh, Gbarpolu County. The DayLight/Rebazar Forte
By James Harding Giahyue
TOTOQUELLEH, Gbarpolu County – “If [it is a] container, I give you my price. You buy it from me in the bush,” Michael Feika, an illegal logger, told his new client.
Feika is a broker of kpokolo, squared, compact timber whose trade the government “banned” just over a year ago but has reemerged, with authorities yet to act.
Feika shared several of his past and present operations with Joemue Wortee when they met in Paynesville on March 8. The pictures were equally revealing as Feika’s verbal pitch to Wortee, the assumed client.
“I will bring [the kpokolo] to town. It is only left with you to pay me because I got the document,” Feika said as he tried to convince Wortee of a deal.
“This thing [is] my business from day one.”
In his late 30s and with a Sierra Leonean accent, Feika sent Wortee to his network in Totoquelleh in the Bopolu District of Gbarpolu County. There, Wortee saw Feika’s setup—production sites, an earthmover, timber and a gang of chainsaw millers and haulers.
But Wortee was no businessman. He was an undercover reporter whose mission was to uncover Feika’s illegal logging activities. The reporter’s mission set off as evidence of fresh kpokolo activities began in the western countryside.
The DayLight used undercover techniques because it appeared impossible that Feika would submit to an open probe, particularly after our previous report on the return of kpokolo. Also, such investigation in a forest best guaranteed the reporter’s safety.
‘Mikelo’
The DayLight’s undercover reporter under his assumed name traveled to Totoquelleh, some 62 miles north of Monrovia.
Michael Feika, aliased Mikelo, a prolific kpokolo logger, poses near a tree he just felled. Photo credit Michael Feika
When the reporter arrived at the destination, Feika had already informed a member of his network about the assumed businessman’s mission. The undercover reporter did not know this so, he went asking the townspeople for the teenage member named only as Morris.
Just as Feika had said, everyone the reporter asked in Totoquelleh said they knew Feika and his operations. The people call him Mikelo, a play on the words “Michael” and “Kpokolo.”
Feika and Morris live in a mud hut from where the former serves as the ringleader for their wood trafficking network of over 20 operators. At times he hosts Sierra Leonean illegal loggers for months in Totoquelleh. Feika claims that he hails from Margibi County but his Facebook account lists Freetown as his home city. Other Feikas listed as his friends on Facebook also come from Sierra Leone. This means Feika is not even qualified to conduct small-scale logging activities in Liberia, set aside for only Liberians.
The undercover reporter went to Feika’s house in search of Morris. That search took him to the home of Abadulai Fofana, another kpokolo producer in the forest-enveloped community. It was here the reporter met Morris.
Up: Fresh kpokolo Michael Feika harvested in few months ago. Here: Old kpokolo Feika harvested in 2022. The DayLight/Esau Farr
The short, black teenager, who is also a motorcycle taxi driver, then took the undercover reporter on a guided tour of Feika’s kpokolo world.
As they took a footpath leading to a farm, Morris told the undercover reporter that they produced a lot of kpokolo in 2022. Their production has slowed down in the last two years and they only produce when a customer approaches them.
As they walked deeper, the undercover reporter saw some abandoned kpokolo on the floor of the dried, dim wooded area. Morris disclosed that it was one of the many locations where Feika worked.
Morris’ comments corroborated Feika’s account and that of the picture he shared with the reporter in Paynesville. Feika had said that he harvested the wood in 2022 but backed off after the supposed ban.
Feika’s new worksites in the pictures were too far for the reporter to venture even for a client. The reporter and Morris decided to head back to the town.
Nevertheless, the pictures already took the undercover reporter to Feika’s new locations. They show piles of kpokolo in the forest, felled logs waiting to be milled, targeted trees for harvesting and timber at a portable sawmill. One particular picture showed Feika posing for a picture next to another felled tree.
Logs cut by Michael Feika. Photo credit: Michael Feika
“The ones standing there, I [cut] one down before I could come to Monrovia,” Feika said back in Paynesville, referring to a gigantic tree. “This one is Iroko the white one,” he added, citing a first-class tree species scientifically known as Milicia excelsa, which kpokolo traffickers prefer.
‘It is easy’
About a 10-minute into their journey back to Totoquelleh, the reporter and Morris saw a score of 12-inch kpokolo that Fofana, Feika’s competitor, harvested.
Not far, lay five others in the middle of a dirt road close to the K.J. Village. The kpokolo appeared to have fallen off the vehicle transferring them from the forest. Tire impressions show clearly in the sunbaked mud.
Fofana had disclosed he kept more kpokolo in their conversation before the undercover reporter met Morris.
“The sizes are 50X50, 40X40 and 30X30,” Fofana said at the time. He meant the timber’s dimensions range from 30 to 50 inches in thickness, up to 25 times the authorized size.
“It was produced last month,” Fofana added.
“When somebody [has a] contract for me, I can do it. That business is a contract. It can come and we discuss it before we do it.” Fofana’s comments had confirmed Feika’s suspicion that other kpokolo operators in Totoquelleh would try to snatch the assumed businessman.
The leftover of a tree harvested by illegal loggers somewhere in Liberia. Photo credit: Michael Feika
Upon his return to Totoquelleh from his Morris-guided tour, the undercover reporter photographed an excavator parked near a truck in an open field.
“You see that car over there,” Fofana said, pointing to the excavator. “It is the one that can hook [the kpokolo and put them in the container].”
‘Not small money’
Thankfully, the pictures Feika shared with the undercover reporter show the entire container-packaging process. Several pictures show the wood being measured with a tape rule. One shows a crane shoving kpokolo into a container, while another reveals two men sealing it up.
“Some of the containers allow eight, 14, 16 and 20 pieces of wood to go in, depending on the sizes of the wood,” Feika said back in Paynesville. He revealed the kpokolo measuring three inches and four-and-a-half inches were the ones now in demand.
Feika said he had stopped producing larger kpokolo due to the ban but was open to cutting them once he got the right offer. “If you want [them]…, it is not small money you will spend,” he said.
The prices for a container filled with kpokolo are based on the class of the wood. Prices range from US$7,000 to US$12,000, including transportation to Monrovia, according to Feika. Feika’s favorite first-class species apart from Iroko are Afzelia (Afzelia spp), Ekki (Lophira alata), Lovoa (Lovoa trichilioides) and Niangon ( Heritiera utilis). These species are expensive and produce hardwood used for shipbuilding, railroad ties and outdoor construction.
If a client wants just one container, they must pay Feika at least half of their negotiated amount. If the client wants multiple containers, they pay for at least one container upfront. However, the client must pay the FDA US1,200 for an annual export permit, US$1,000 for the paper and the balance for paperwork, Feika said. Those figures are the same as the ones on the kpokolo permit the FDA issued before the so-called ban.
Once the container is filled and sealed, Feika makes phone calls to FDA rangers posted on the Bopolu-Monrovia highway via Klay. Feika would not share the rangers’ contact or say their names.
“When I reach the checkpoint, I will say, ‘Yes, I am the one [who has] the wood. Everybody knows me because I have a document from the FDA with a license number assigned to me. I will give them my container serial number and they check it and we pass.”
But Feika warned against double-crossing him to deal with rangers directly. He recounted the story of two Korean illegal loggers, the police commander and other accomplices who were arrested in Klay, Bomi County.
“If the [authorities arrest] you, you are finished because some FDA [agents] will tell you, ‘Come, I will carry [them] for you.’ If you depend on them, you will lose,” Feika said.
Ironically, Feika did not know he was speaking to a reporter of the newspaper that exposed the syndicate. The DayLight would go on to assist a police investigation that led to the men’s arrest and the dismissal of the police commander and an FDA ranger.
Feika’s contacts and influence do not extend to the Freeport of Monrovia but he offered some valuable information. Smugglers must acquire an export permit and find a customs broker at the Freeport of Monrovia to help export the timber. It costs US$1,200 to obtain the export permit certificate from the FDA—US$1,000 for the permit and the balance to secure the document.
Two illegal loggers closing a container. Photo credit: Michael Feika
Once they obtain the permit, they will have to pay the container’s owner US$200 per container and US$100 for each truck to transport them.
“Forget the shipment of the wood,” Feika reassured. “Once you get money, it is easy.”
His disclosure was not news to the undercover reporter. After all, The DayLight has published illegal permits, receipts and claims by kpokolo exporters in previous investigations. Those publications also revealed the mode of the illegal trade and its ringleaders.
Faika advised his presumed client to ship the wood to Turkey or Germany. “If it is Germany, I will be happy,” he said, “because I have some of my friends in Germany.”
This was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ). Funding for the story was provided by the Kyeema Foundation and Palladium.
Top: A graphic depicting an illegal logging operation conducted by a group of six Sierra Leonean loggers for a Liberian company called Libfor Forest Corporation. The DayLight/Rebazar Forte
By Mark B. Newa
KARNPLAY – A group of Sierra Leoneans, hired by a Liberian businessman, are conducting an illegal logging operation in a forest in Nimba County, according to documents, interviews and photographs.
With the help of locals, the operations are producing thick timber near the Ivory Coast border in Karnplay, Gbelay-Geh District.
The Sierra Leoneans’ operations violate the Chainsaw Milling Regulation, which bars non-Liberians from working in the subsector, evidence shows. Their products go against the standard measurement for planks, matching a form of logging recently banned by the Forestry Development Authority (FDA).
From Bo to Nimba
In early May, a representative of Libfor Forest Corporation, met Aruna Kamara, Bobson Lusainy, Philip Sungu, Sorie Bangura and two other men in the Sierra Leonean eastern province of Bo. The representative asked them to travel to Liberia and serve as chainsaw operators of Libfor, a small-scale logging company established in 2021.
By May 30, the six men headed to the Liberian border at Bo Waterside. There, the company’s representative arranged for emergency travel certificates for the men, according to the documents seen by The DayLight.
Not long after, the men found themselves in Ganta, some 303 miles away from home. They signed a contract. Tejan Jalloh, a Sierra Leonean who works for Libfor, signed for the company, while Sungu signed for the men.
They agreed to harvest timber, with a payment of L$600 per piece, according to their contract, obtained by The DayLight.
Two of the Sierra Leonean pitsaw operators, Aruna Kamara, Borbor Lusainy caught on the reporter’s camera in Gbehnehylay, near the Ivory Coast border. TheDayLight/Mark B. Newa
The six men were then transported to Trorplay, a village in the Gbeh-Somah Clan, Gborplay Chiefdom.
They cut down trees on the farms of individual farmers between L$1,500 and L$3,000. They have already harvested 460 planks, according to Kamara, the oldest of the men.
“We hauled some on the road and the rest are in the bush,” Kamara, the oldest of the six men, told The DayLight in an interview.
‘Kpokolo’
Our reporter photographed stacks of the illegal timber by roadsides and in several other locations. They match the profile of Iroko, a durable wood species used for shipbuilding, furniture and outdoor construction. Currently, it is selling up to US$390 on the international market.
Community leaders are unhappy with the loggers for three reasons. First, they think the Sierra Leoneans are buying the trees too cheaply. Second, they feared that cutting the trees would make their community vulnerable to rainstorms. Locals use the Iroko trees for herbs.
“The tree can protect our towns and villages from strong wind. Iroko is a very strong wood and it also has a kind of value for traditional herbs,” said Anthony Wopleh, a farmer in Trorplay.
Over 100 pieces of Iroko timber risked shrinking in the sun in Trorplay where the Sierra Leonean loggers are stationed. The DayLight/Mark B. NewaSome pieces of sewn Iroko packed near the road between Trorplay and Gbehnehylay in Twa River Administrative District in Gbehlay-Geh, near the Ivory Coast border. TheDayLight/Mark B. Newa
“This is a tree that our people use to heal sicknesses like rheumatism and it is very helpful in treating other diseases,” Wopleh added.
“Cutting down the trees and carrying them like that, [with] nothing remaining here for our community is not good. Look at our roads, from here to Karnplay is so bad,” said Samson Zreakpa, a chief in the Gbeh-Somah Clan.
Local chainsaw millers are also upset with the Sierra Leoneans for “undermining” their efforts. “The guys have infringed on our movement and they have entered into the bush, telling our people negative things,” said Emmanuel Gongor, who ran illegal operations in the region exposed earlier this year by The DayLight.
Amara Fofana, the sole owner of Libfor, based on its article of incorporation, denies the allegations. “My power saws are registered with the local chainsaw union, and they know me good,” Fofana told The DayLight via phone.
‘I cannot fight the government’
The accusations against the Sierra Leoneans may be true or not but the illegality of their operations is obvious. Under the Chainsaw Milling Regulation, non-Liberians are debarred from making planks. The subsector, started by ex-combatants following the end of Liberia’s bloody civil wars in 2003, is primarily meant to supply the domestic market and provide jobs for Liberians.
Also, Libfor does not have a chainsaw milling permit and the farmers who are selling to Sierra Leoneans do not have the authorization to do so. However, that level of violation is commonplace in the subindustry. Apart from imposing fees on chainsaw millers, the FDA has failed to regulate the lucrative trade in its 20 years of existence.
Moreover, the size of the wood the Sierra Leoneans are producing is prohibited. Normally, the FDA allows only up to two-inch-thick planks in the subindustry, and not three-inch.
Sorie Bangura, spokesperson for the Sierra Leonean chainsaw operators stands before piles of Iroko sprawling on the sun in Trorplay, the village where they are stationed. TheDayLight/Mark B. Newa
Over the last decade or so, the FDA secretly sanctioned the production of oversized timber, commonly called “Kpokolo.” In February, the agency announced it had “banned” kpokolo, following a series of reports by The DayLight. The agency admitted it had permitted kpokolo producers to supply sawmills across the country but that permit was abused.
In the phone interview, Fofana said he was harvesting Iroko to make furniture at his own sawmill. He said he expected some machines soon.
“I want to make furniture in Caldwell to compete with the Lebanese businessmen in Monrovia,” Fofana, said via phone, revealing he had 20 chainsaws in the Nimba belt.
Fafona added that he had hired Sierra Leoneans because he could not find any Liberian to do the work. Later, he claimed that Liberians were lazy, dishonest and counterproductive to his company’s vision.
“There are no good operators in Liberia,” Fofana claimed. “This is why somebody brought me those guys to work for me.”
Over the debarment of non-Liberians, Fofana argued that the ECOWAS protocol empowered the Sierra Leoneans to work anywhere in Liberia.
That claim is wrong. People from ECOWAS countries are entitled to a 90-day stay in Liberia. However, they are not allowed to work without a residence permit, according to the Aliens and Naturalization Law. If they work without residence permits—as in the case of the Sierra Leoneans—they violate the law. In fact, the Sierra Leoneans should have obtained work permits before felling their first tree, according to the Decent Work Act.
The Emergency Travel Certificate bearing the name, Philip Sungu, a farmer from Sembehun Selinda in Bo District, Sierra Leone. TheDayLight/Mark B. NewaThe signature page of the contract between six Sierra Leonean chainsaw operators and a Liberian-owned company called Libfor Forest Corporation. The DayLight/Mark B. Newa
Apparently conceding, Fofana said he would send the men to Gormahplay in the Bu-Yao District, toward the Ivory Coast border at Butuo.
Further in the interview, Fofana lied that he was not aware his Sierra Leonean workers were harvesting oversized planks. However, The contract his company signed with the Sierra Leoneans exposed him. It clearly obligates the men to harvest timber measuring three inches in thickness, 13 inches in width and 15 feet in length.
Told of the clause of the contract that speaks about the height of the wood, Fofana conceded.
“Actually, I do not know that one,” he told our reporter. “When the wood is above the size required by law, I will reduce it because I cannot fight the government.”
It was easier for Fofana to have said those words than it is done in forestry. Illegal timber harvest is punishable by a fine of three times the industry’s price of the wood and the total cubic meter of the wood in question. Violators could also face a six-month prison term or both fine and imprisonment, according to the Regulation on Confiscated Logs, Timber and Timber Products.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ).
Police finally picked up Hasan Uzan and Umit Gungor after a couple of days on the run. Hasan Uzan and Gungor are part of Askon Liberia General Trading Incorporated. The company violated the terms of its sawmill permit by engaging in harvesting and exporting of thick timber, commonly called Kpokolo, according to the Forestry Development Authority (FDA). The FDA had banned the company and barred Hasan Uzan, Yeter Uzan and Faith Uzan, its co-owners from forestry activities.
Kpokolo, the most common illegal logging operation in the country, is largely responsible for the infamy of Liberia’s forestry sector today. In February, the FDA said it banned kpokolo after a string of reports of irregularities by The DayLight.
So far, here is what we know about Kpokolo:
Kpokolo began in the 2010s
Kpokolo started in Liberia somewhere between 2010 and 2012, according to players in the informal subsector. One experienced chainsaw operator in Gbarpolu said a Malian national introduced it in Kinjor, Grand Cape Mount County.
Two big players in the underground subsector said it started around the mid-2010s or so. One said Sierra Leoneans introduced it here in 2015, while the others said 2016. A number of receipts and other documents, obtained from kpokolo producers support the dates.
Kpokolo means ‘thick and heavy’ in Kpelle
The word Kpokolo roughly translates “thick and heavy” in the Kpelle language. That is a reference to the nature of the timber, which are squared, compact and require an entire football team or a machine to lift it up.
Kpokolo dimensions range from anything between three inches high to 10 inches long, according to receipts related to the transportation of the wood. The most common measurement of the wood is five inches high, 10 inches wide and 12 inches long.
Shaped to Fit Neatly into a Container
Kpokolo timber are produced in square form so that they can fit neatly into containers. The DayLight has obtained a number of photographs from social media showing a host of kpokolo being packed into containers.
Men pack kpokolo in a container truck probably in Gbarpolu County. The DayLight
Kpokolo Advertised on Social Media
Looking for kpokolo managers and loggers? Check social media, particularly Facebook.
One example is Emmanuel Gongor, a serial kpokolo logger in Nimba County. Gongor’s Facebook posts show different aspects of his kpokolo operation. Some show him heading on bad roads, piling huge pieces of kpokolo and others show him and some men loading a truck with the wood. Perhaps, the coolest picture shows a bottle of water on a flat cutoff of a log with the caption, “Iroko wood for sale.” Iroko is a first-class timber.
Kpokolo operators use WhatsApp, too. For example, Hasan Uzan, one of the Turks arrested by the police and Varney Marshall, a former FDA ranger assigned in Bomi County, used WhatsApp.
Uzan has a number of Kpokolo-related pictures on his profile. It brandishes: “Tropical Timber Center West Africa.”
Marshall used his WhatsApp differently. He does not have pictures of his kpokolo operations there. However, last year, he shared videos and pictures of the operations with Isaac Richmond Anderson, a former staffer of the Liberian consulate in South Korea in a bid to partner with Anderson. Marshall was later relieved of his post, and he and Anderson have been indicted in another illegal logging deal.
Kpokolo Thrives on Misconceptions
Once you are a Liberian, and you have an article of incorporation and business registration, you can produce kpokolo, according to major kpokolo loggers The DayLight has interviewed. There is no need for an environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA), a contract, a harvesting certificate and other requirements, according to them. Once you have the aforementioned documents, you are good to go.
Amid a lack of awareness of forestry legal frameworks, kpokolo players are inspired by these misconceptions. Legally, one must have a contract, an agreement with a community that has the right to enter an agreement, conduct an ESIA, obtain harvesting authorization and many other things. Also, transporting and exporting timber hinges on other requirements kpokolo operators sidestep.
Kpokolo Operators Target Expensive Wood
Kpokolo producers do not just go for any wood. They target hardwood, used for shipbuilding and outdoor construction, such as bridges. These timber contain a lot of oil in them, which makes them water-resistant and durable, according to experts.
There is a huge possibility that the kpokolo timber you have seen are ekki (azobe), dahoma and Iroko (Kambala). To give you some context here, a cubic meter of ekki sells for US$281, according to the International Timber Trading Organization (ITTO).
In some cases, kpokolo operators harvest class B wood such as Tali (sassawood).
A pile of kpokolo in Compound Number One, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Kpokolo Smugglers Target Asian Markets
Smugglers of kpokolo avoid Europe and target Asian markets, mainly China, India, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
The kpokolo underground trade avoids the European markets, which trade only legal timber. Liberia has a trade deal with the European Union called the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), which requires only legally and sustainably sourced wood for the European market. The smuggling of kpokolo is a violation of the VPA.
According to a number of online marketplaces or B2B platforms, Liberian businesses have exported containers of sawn timbers to those Asian countries. These include consignments from Askon Liberia General Trading Inc and Tropical Wood Group of Companies that ended up in India, according to one of the firms’ transactions.
Villagers Play a Role
Villagers, too, play a role in the kpokolo trade.
Villagers own the forest adjacent to their communities as per the Community Rights Law and the Land Rights Act. However, they must seek the authorization of the FDA before they engage in logging activities.
This is not the case, chiefs, elders and farmers get into deals with loggers, mostly verbal agreements, and allow them to harvest trees. In exchange, the loggers pay a fee and, in some instances, conduct projects, including roads and bridges. In Darmo’s Town, a community in the Bopolu District of Gbarpolu County, a kpokolo operator built a bridge.
Smugglers Collude with Officials
Kpokolo smugglers take advantage of the legal use of containers to transport logs, the lack of due diligence and coordination between the FDA and shipping authorities, and collusion between corrupt officials and smugglers have helped fueled the illegal trade.
For instance, Assistant Minister for Trade Peter Somah aided Askon to smuggle at least two containers of timber to India in October 2020.
Some pieces of kpokolo in a forest in Gbaryama, Gbarpolu County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
The FDA itself plays a part
The most noteworthy player in kpokolo trafficking is the Forestry Development Authority. The FDA awards certain permits to kpokolo operators outside the log-tracking procedure called the chain of custody system.
Back in March, Edward Kamara, FDA’s manager for forest product marketing and revenue forecast, announced that the agency has issued “tens of permits.”
A small consignment of kpokolo timber from Grand Cape Mount County is seen impounded at an FDA checkpoint in Klay, Bomi County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
The announcement had been coming for months. Announcing the unofficial ban on kpokolo in February, Kamara admitted that the FDA had awarded kpokolo loggers permits to trade locally. However, he said, “timber arrested for attempting to illegally export consisted of these dimensions. Therefore, it is the chainsaw milling block wood… that is banned to be brought to the market, especially in Monrovia.”
What Kamara did not say was that the permits the agency issued to kpokolo operators did not go through the chain of custody system and that the fees it collected did not go into government coffers. The same goes for funds related to the transportation of the wood. These are serious violations of the National Forestry Reform Law and the Regulation on the Establishment of a Chain of Custody System.
This story was produced by the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
