Top: Logs felled on 3,200 acres in the Mavasagueh Community Forest claimed by Khalil Haider. Mr. Haider has filed a US$5 million lawsuit against the Forestry Development Authority and C&C Corporation. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
By Emmanuel Sherman
MONROVIA – A man has filed a lawsuit against the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) and a logging company for at least US$5 million over alleged damages to his private property in Grand Bassa’s District Number Two.
Khalil Haider accuses the FDA of authorizing C&C Corporation of harvesting trees on 3,200 acres of forestland in the Vambo Township, according to court filings.
“The FDA took my client’s property, and awarded it to a company, and the company has been [harvesting] logs on the property without the consent and acceptance of my client,” said Cllr. Vaani-Faate Kiawu, Haider’s lawyer.
The FDA and C&C Corporation did not respond to queries for comments.
Alleged forgery
Last year, the FDA authorized Mavasagueh as a community forest, covering 26,003 hectares. Then the new community forest signed a contract with C&C Corporation, co-owned and managed by Clearance Massaquoi, a logger active during the Second Liberian Civil War.
Shortly after, Haider wrote to the FDA, claiming the land in the company’s harvest blocks for this year. Haider, a resident of Paynesville, is the administrator of the interstate estate of his late mother, Rosa E. Dillion of Montserrado, court filings show.
Later, Haider asked C&C Corporation to settle with him or halt the harvesting. Instead, the FDA acted on a letter that the lawsuit alleges was forged, misspelling Haider as “Hajder,” ignoring the plaintiff’s notice.
The lawsuit alleges that Rudolph Merab, Haider’s “cousin,” appeared to be “exploiting the relationship to deprive [Haider] of his property rights by granting permission to C&C Corporation.
“The C&C has been cutting logs for over four months without the consent of [Haider] despite every effort to resolve the issue amicably,” it added.
The suit cited a decade-old survey, which found 21 species and 778 trees in every 100 acres of the land, valued at US$672 million, using approved prices.
The lawsuit referenced a provision of the National Forestry Reform Law, which recognizes that the state does not own forests on private plots.
“Although the FDA is a government agency responsible for… the regulation of forest resources…, it has illegally granted C&C Corporation to cull logs from the private property of the plaintiff.”
This story was a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ) production.
Top: The stump of a tree Westwood Corporation harvested outside a 450-acre authorized area in the Gba Community Forest, based on satellite imagery. The evidence also established that the firm even harvested outside the community forest. The DayLight/James Flomo
By Esau Farr and James Flomo
SEHYI-GEH – Earlier this year, Westwood Corporation, a firm with no known logging experience, harvested timber outside its authorized area in the Gba Community Forest in Nimba’s Yarmein and Sanniquillie-Mahn Districts, a DayLight investigation has found.
In 2016, ArcelorMittal Liberia signed an MoU with Gba, giving the community US$150,000 to clear 450 acres of rocky forestland to construct a mine waste plant. However, Gba misapplied the money and turned to loggers to do the job multiple times in eight years.
Those efforts failed until this January this year, when Gba signed the agreement with West Wood, known for roadworks. The agreement included logs that previous companies had abandoned in the 11,538-hectare forest.
Westwood soon began the felling, and exported 216 logs (921.124 cubic meters) in two March shipments, according to the FDA’s records. An initial DayLight investigation found that the exports were illegal in several ways. The logs had been harvested under an agreement that did not match a legal forestry contract. The logs were exported to Europe despite not being from a legal source, violating Liberia’s timber trade agreement with the European Union.
But this investigation established that things were a lot worse. Geolocations of tree stumps with Westwood tags show the company harvested outside the designated area, apparently targeting expensive, first-class timber. Reporters photographed a dirt road that the company paved inside the forest to access the logs.
Using official dataset and geolocation technology, The DayLight used coordinates fitted into pictures taken of stumps of trees Westwood harvested to draw a map, exposing the illegal harvest.
It was unclear how many logs were illegally harvested. However, DayLight estimated 250 first-class logs in the Makingo Town. Their species—ekki and niangon—matched those Westwood exported in March.
It is unclear how many logs were harvested outside a 450-acre designated area in the Gba Community Forest. Picture credit: Anonymous
Westwood’s activities were an open secret. Three DayLight visits found that people and the Gba leadership were aware of the illegal harvest.
“They went to Gbarpa, where they did not send them, felled logs and carried them,” said Paul Gahnto, Sehyi-Geh Town’s assistant youth chairman.
The illegal harvesting adds to Nimba’s deforestation. Between 2002 and 2024, Nimba recorded 393,000 hectares of tree cover loss, second only to Bong (434,000 hectares), according to Global Forest Watch, which tracks countries’ deforestation. A tree cover is any vegetation that is at least three meters high.
World Heritage Site
The illegal harvest is counterproductive to a region known internationally for conservation.
Gba and its neighbors—Blei, Sehyi Ko-doo and Zor—serve as a buffer with East Nimba Reserve, a part of the Nimba Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, running through Guinea and the Ivory Coast. The region is home to the Nimba flycatcher, the Nimba toad and other endangered and common species.
Based on the region’s importance, Gba and the other communities have an agreement with the Liberian government and ArcelorMittal to protect the forest there. As part of the agreement, the steel giant supports the communities’ conservation programs, including a monthly stipend for forest guards and tree planting.
Gba, in particular, has also received support for its conservation from other institutions. It had been established by a USAID project and continued to receive support from the United States Forest Service. Since 2023, Social Entrepreneurs for Development (SESDev) has worked with Gba’s leadership to strengthen its governance mechanism.
Westwood adds to the list of companies Gba has contracted to clear the controversial 450 acres. In 2016, LTTC Thanry signed a contract with Gba but did not deliver. Later in 2021, Six S International entered the picture, but, like LTTC Thanry, it failed.
A map utilizing satellite imagery shows areas affected by the illegal harvest outside the Gba Community ForestRudolph Merab’s letter approving Westwood’s harvest in the Gba Community Forest, bypassing forestry regulations
Before those deals, Gba was among several community forests whose status the FDA’s board canceled in 2014 for errors. The agency had mistakenly combined Gba with Zor and had to be split into two community forests.
‘Hereby granted’
The Forestry Development Authority played a part in the illegal harvest. Managing Director Rudolph Merab ignored legal requirements and authorized West Wood.
In normal logging practices, the FDA counts and marks trees in a mapped area before harvest. Then, there are FDA fieldworkers who monitor the process and verify the legality of the log before export.
In Gba’s case, a warning letter replaced that rule, even though more crucial, given the nature of the harvest.
“You are obligated to ensure your operations comply with the legal framework,” wrote Merab. “You are required to tag all standing trees.
“You are hereby granted approval to commence operation in the Gba Community Forest.”
Interestingly, Merab lowered the bar Mike Doryen, his immediate predecessor, had set for Gba. Doryen, whose administration was characterized by forestry offenses, ensured that previous companies obeyed the rules.
Rules aside, the FDA did not verify West Wood’s legal documents before approving its operations in Gba. The company’s article of incorporation does not list its shareholders. The document has only two articles in the legal documents: I and III. This violates the Beneficial Ownership Regulation, which mandates businesses to name the people who own them.
Westwood’s illegal article of incorporation
That rule does not only apply when registering a business. It is also a forestry requirement. The Regulation on Bidder Qualifications requires a company’s owners or “significant individuals” to be scrutinized. It curtails conflicts of interest involving public officials and prevents forest resources from being placed into the hands of broke or dishonest individuals.
The FDA and Samuel Cooper, owner of Westwood, did not respond to requests for comments.
The Forestry Development Authority investigated the harvest following the initial DayLight publication, but has not released any report months on. Logging outside an authorized area is a crime, punishable by a fine, imprisonment and penalties.
Nyan Flomo, a Gba leader, fears locals will bear the brunt of West Wood’s actions. Flomo now runs Gba’s affairs due to the death of Samuel Johnson, Gba’s leadership head, in March.
“What we heard is that the FDA will investigate, declare the logs abandoned, auction [them] and give the community its benefits,” said Flomo, who initially supported Westwood and was critical of The DayLight investigation. “We are still looking up to the FDA to give us the [official] outcomes of the investigation they carried out.”
The story was produced by the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ).
A bird’s-eye view of a forest in Sinoe County in 2018. Picture credit: James Harding Giahyue
ByEsau J. Farr
CONGO TOWN – A local NGO, Integrated Development and Learning (IDL), has launched a roadmap that proposes payment for communities that keep their forests.
The “Roadmap for Pursuing Alternative Options for Liberia’s Forest Benefits” is a partnership among IDL, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) and communities. It offers to pay locals who do not farm, build houses, mine, and log in forests for commercial purposes. Organizers call it payment for stewardship.
“Today, there is emphasis on conservation because we realized that the misuse of forests [negatively] affects the lives of people,” said FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab at the roadmap’s launch recently in Congo Town. “We are committed to managing forests sustainably so that the forest canopy will not be depleted.”
Leaders of Wedjah and the Jaedae Districts, Sinoe County, where the strategy is being tested, said they were committed to it. Last and earlier this month, the communities signed agreements for a two-year trial with 50,000 hectares in exchange for US$152,022. Customary communities own most of the forests in Liberia, which hosts 43 percent of West Africa’s largest rainforests.
Stakeholders in a group photo after the launch of the Roadmap for Pursuing Alternative Options for Liberia’s Forest Benefits. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
“We want to encourage our people in our forest communities to ensure that we play our role well in managing our forests for us to get money and develop our communities,” said Lasting Kadee, a Wedjah community forest leader.
IDL intends to scale up to 202,342 hectares by 2027, setting the stage for international financing in line with the Paris Agreement. This will lead to forest communities being merged to meet the minimum standard for climate finance, according to IDL’s Executive Director, Silas Siakor.
“IDL wants the pilot communities to begin climate mitigation and anti-deforestation activities by properly managing their forest and get paid for keeping their forests standing,” said Siakor at the launch of the roadmap recently.
The Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo, urged the communities to obtain environmental permits to allow the EPA to help protect their forests. “From the EPA’s point of view, I think the whole idea is good,” Yarkpawolo said. “It seems that the process will be smooth.”
Top: A Burkinabé man displays his immigration document at the FDA regional office in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Varney Kamara
GBOLEKEN, Grand Gedeh – The Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) reported that it has recorded over 40,000 Burkinabé cocoa farmers to monitor and legalize their status.
“It is intended to establish how many of them entered the country and where exactly they crossed,” Alex Kpakolo, Assistant Immigration Comptroller of Grand Gedeh County.
“We are taking stock of their movements and actions across the different towns, villages, districts, and communities where they are hosted. By doing this, we can easily trace them if there is a problem.”
Burkinabés began to enter Liberia from the Ivory Coast in the 2010s to plant cocoa. Last year, France 24 reported 25,000, capitalizing on Liberia’s weak monitoring, large rainforests, and higher cocoa prices. Ivory Coast has lost 90 percent of its forest to cocoa farming in the last six decades, according to that report. The same is happening in Liberia, which has lost 386,000 hectares of primary forests between 2002 and 2024, according to Global Forest Watch, which tracks annual deforestation.
Immigration records show over 1,000 Liberians host at least one Burkinabe farmer, known locally by their ethnic group, Mossi. They have settled mainly across Maryland, River Gee and Grand Gedeh.
In Grand Gedeh alone, the number of registered Burkinabes has exceeded 36,000. To ensure a smooth process, immigration authorities have established 18 registration sectors. “As a result of this process, most of the Burkinabes are now coming out of the bushes and registering. Their hosts, too, encourage them daily to come for the registration. That’s why you see we have this kind of high number,” Kpakolo said in an interview at his office in Gboleken, Gbarzon District.
A Burkinabé man sets a tree ablaze in a forest in Grand Gedeh County. Picture credit: Forestry Development Authority
After the registration, the Burkinabes would be vetted and issued resident permits, in line with the Alien and Nationality Law of Liberia. The law requires non-Liberians to obtain a permit to reside in Liberia. ECOWAS citizens pay US$100 for the permit, with a fine or deportation for violators.
“After registration, we will review their status and find out whether they are here only temporarily or if they want to stay and work here permanently. After this process, LIS will decide to start issuing resident permits,” Kpakolo said.
Rising tension
Labor authorities are watching the process. Robson Bah, Labour Commissioner of Grand Gedeh, said the ministry intended to formalize contracts between locals and their West African partners.
“We have noticed that people who don’t have titled deeds are cutting boundaries and giving out land to Burkinabés. And, as a result of this, you have confusion all over the place,” said Robson Bah, Labour Commissioner of Grand Gedeh.
“Today, everything appears to be going well between the Burkinabes and their Liberian hosts, but when money starts to come and things start to happen, they may not be peaceful.”
Across the southeastern region, cocoa farming is splitting families and communities, according to court records. The Zwedru City Magisterial Court has recorded at least 10 similar cases. Last week, 31 accused of illegally encroaching on concessions to plant cocoa were jailed at the Zwedru Correction Palace.
This was a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ) production.
Top: An FDA vehicle transports Burkinabés suspected of criminal trespassing in a community forest and a logging concession to the Zwedru Correction Palace. The DayLight/Varney Kamara
By Varney Kamara
ZWEDRU – Thirty-one Burkinabé cocoa farmers were jailed for allegedly clearing forestry concessions in Grand Gedeh County to plant cocoa.
The men, with ages ranging from teenagers to the 50s, were rounded up by rangers of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) during a routine patrol. They were recently arrested at two forestry contract areas.
“The Burkinabés are damaging these places with cocoa farming. We met them brushing in the park. We also caught some of them cutting demarcation in the FMCs,” Yei Neagor, FDA’s head for that region, told The DayLight at the Zwedru City Magisterial Court. Pictures shared by the FDA show the man setting up camps and setting trees ablaze.
“I can tell you that the situation is alarming. They are destroying the forest. It is on a massive scale,” added Neagor.
The suspects were arrested in the Gbarzon District at two locations. Fifteen were picked up at Marbo 1 Community Forest and 16 at a dormant concession known as Forest Management Contract Area K or FMC ‘K’.
They had been arraigned at the FDA’s regional office in Zwedru and later taken to the police station before being forwarded to court. They have been charged with criminal trespassing and criminal mischief, court documents show. They were jailed at the Zwedru Correction Palace after failing to post bail.
‘The land belongs to us’
In an interview with The DayLight, the suspects admitted to the charges but blamed their Liberian hosts for the situation.
“We fell into this problem because our host did not show us the actual demarcation of the boundary,” said Soré Sayouba, a spokesman for the Burkinabés.
Sayouba, 57, said he and the other men crossed the Ivorian border into Grand Gedeh through local people or hosts. Immigration records list Bamba Paye, a Gbarzon resident, as one of their hosts.
Paye denies any wrongdoing, saying his family farmed on the controversial land for decades. “I don’t understand why they arrested my Burkinabé workers because my parents planted cocoa and orange way back on this land. In our traditional setting, life crops represent inheritance,” Paye said via phone.
“The land belongs to us.”
The suspects have been freed on bond and are expected to reappear in court on Tuesday.
Cocoa court cases
The case adds to several lawsuits involving Burkinabés, the FDA and individuals in Grand Gedeh, regarding cocoa cultivation.
Burkinabés began flocking into Liberia in the 2010s, after a cross-border agreement between then-President Sirleaf and Ivoirian leader Alhassan Ouattara, according to immigration authorities.
Alleged Burkinabés forest invasion suspects head for the Zwedru Correction Palace. The DayLight/Varney Kamara
“From that time, we noticed that people started coming in. But they were not coming as agriculturists. Now, as we speak, they are all along the Cavalla belt,” said Alex Kpakolo, Grand Gedeh’s Assistant Comptroller of Immigration.
Last year, France 24 reported 25,000, capitalizing on Liberia’s weak law enforcement, large rainforests and high cocoa prices.
Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producer, has lost 90 percent of its forest to “brown gold” farming in the last six decades, the report said.
This trend continues in Liberia, which lost 386,000 hectares of primary forests between 2002 and 2024, according to Global Forest Watch.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: Community Assembly members are drafting a resolution to present to the Grand Bassa County authorities. The DayLight/Franklin Nehyalor
By Franklin Nehyalor and Emmanuel Sherman
GBOR JIMMY TOWN – A community forest in Grand Bassa County has threatened to stop a logging company’s operation for failing to deliver on development projects, barely two months after protesting for the same reason.
The Grand Bassa District 3 B&C Community Forest has vowed to stop the West Water Group Liberia’s operations for failing to deliver on community projects.
“We will stop their operation until the community gets all its benefits. We will hold onto their machines and prevent them from working,” said Jeremiah Whoe, the community leadership head.
“West Water lied to us. They told us that they would do five hand pumps, 25 market tables, build a junior high school, and maintain the two Bassa-Gio roads in the first five years, but none of those things happened.”
In April 2021, District 3 B&C Community Forest signed a 15-year logging contract with West Water, a Chinese-owned company. The community leased 24,175 hectares of woodland to West Wood in exchange for hand pumps, roads, and a school.
Community Assembly members are drafting a resolution to present to the Grand Bassa County authorities. The DayLight/Franklin Nehyalor
However, West Water has not lived up to its promises. Four years after signing the contract, it owes the community a substantial amount in land rental, educational benefits and other fees.
Between April 2021 and now, West Water has only constructed three out of eight hand pumps, according to community leaders. It owes US$4,500 for health and educational benefits, US$17,000 for land rental, and an unknown amount for the timber it harvested.
The planned protest would be the second in about four months. In March, the community staged a protest, halting West Water’s operations following several failed attempts to get their benefits. The protest ended after county authorities intervened, with the company making new commitments.
“We are demanding West Water to pay the remaining land rental and cubic meter fees, complete all major projects earmarked, and provide all community benefits before it continues operations here,” said Jeremiah Whoe, the community leader.
Meanwhile, as tension rises against West Water, the Nyuinwein Administrative District Development Association (NADDA), a local pressure group, is threatening court action.
“NADDA intends to push arbitration because the company cannot be trusted,” said Omega Jimmy, an NADDA executive. West Water did not respond to The DayLight’s request for comments.
The District 3B&C-West Water deal is one of the most controversial in forestry. In 2024, a DayLight investigation found it had exported 797 logs that it had illegally harvested.
Exporting timber without community benefits violates the Community Rights Law of 2009 and the Regulation on Forest Fees. The law and the regulation require that communities manage and benefit from forest resources, mandating companies to settle with communities before shipment.
This story was a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ) production.
Top: Newly elected members of Mavasagueh Community Forest. The DayLight/Ojuku Kangar
By Emmanuel Sherman
VAMBO TOWNSHIP – Eleven townspeople have been elected to a community forest leadership in Grand Bassa County, calming months of tension over their towns’ alleged misrepresentation.
Mavasagueh Community Forest’s previous election, held in August last year, was marred by irregularities, prompting fresh elections. Those elected include representatives from Boe, Borbor Kaykay, and Togar Towns. Zeogar, the twelfth town, was disqualified because its representative serves as a town chief, debarred from direct community forest activities.
“Now that we have been elected, we will do the proper thing for the affected towns and the Vambo Township,” said Ojuku Kangar, a community assembly representative from Boe Town, one of the 11 elected persons.
Wooded areas get community forest status when they complete nine legal steps, including establishing a governance structure. This structure comprises a day-to-day forest management body, a supervising executive committee, and a topmost decision-making assembly.
“We will form unity with our counterpart as a community assembly to hold the company accountable to our contract,” added Kangar, a DayLight affiliate.
The election in Mavasagueh has eased tensions in the Compound Number Town area, following months of hostilities. Before the election, townspeople protested for representation in the leadership. There was an imbalance in the allocation of projects in the 39 towns that own the 26,003-hectare forest.
The elections could also lead to the unfreezing of the community forest’s account, which was frozen after funds were misapplied. Kangar said more signatories would be added to the account to reflect inclusion. “We will ensure the FDA includes us in the bank account,” he said.
Citizens blamed the FDA for the chaos. The regulator conducted inadequate awareness, leading to some towns not participating in Mavasagueh’s formation, according to civil society and locals. That finding was corroborated by an investigative series over the last five months.
Daniel Dayougar, the former Vambo Commissioner, was accused of handpicking representatives to serve on Mavasagueh’s assembly. Dayougar denies any wrongdoing.
Trucks carrying logs from the Mavasagueh Community Forest. The DayLight/Ojuku Kangar
Amid the chaos, C&C Corporation, the logging company Mavasagueh’s leadership signed a contract with, has been operating. So far, it has paved dirt roads in the area and has harvested logs that are being stored at Krish Veneer Industries, a sawmill in Buchanan, a few miles away.
“All of our logs are taken to Buchanan without benefit. This is what happened during RETCO days until we blocked the roads and chased them out,” said Zechariah Boima, of Togar Town. He was referencing RETCO Liberia Timber Industry, a company that worked here in the 1990s and paid the community L$10,000 (roughly US$90 today).
The FDA did not respond to queries. However, Kangar David, head of the agency’s sub-office in Buchanan, who conducted the election, urged the new leadership to work in Mavasagueh’s interest.
The election is yet another proof of Mavasagueh’s flawed formation. It has already been established that the FDA skipped legal steps in granting it a community forest status. C&C Corporation is illegitimate because its owner, Clarence Massaquoi, is an ineligible logger. Krish Veneer, the company’s buyer, operates on the FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab’s family land with an ineligible status. The forest overlaps a private land that two men are claiming.
This is a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ) production.
Top: The Bushrod Island Magisterial Court conducts preliminary hearings in the case against two suspected timber smugglers from Caldwell, following a January DayLight investigation. The DayLight/Varney Kamara
By Varney Kamara
MONROVIA – A Montserrado court has begun preliminary hearings into a case against two suspected timber smugglers, exposed in a DayLight interview.
In late January, the Bushrod Island Magisterial Court charged Amara Fofana and Suleyman Karabacak, officials of Libfor Forest Corporation, with smuggling and economic sabotage. The pair had been at the Monrovia Central Prison for weeks after failing to secure a US$100,000 bond.
Their detention came within 48 hours after a DayLight investigation that unearthed Libfor traded timber outside the legal system.
Their case commenced recently after months of delay, and will resume later this month when the suspects’ lawyer returns. A court document shows that Cllr. Alhaji Sesay traveled to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage and medical reasons. He returns to Liberia on June 27, 2025, according to court filings.
“In view of the above, movant counsel humbly requests an excuse for all pending matters,” the document read.
The case will move to a circuit court, as magisterial courts lack the authority to prosecute cases of economic sabotage. However, the preliminary hearing is a legal requirement for the case to be transferred to a higher court.
This story was a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ) production.
Top: Perhaps the most active forestry company in Liberia, Krish Veneer Industries exports round logs in addition to plywood and decorated wooden materials. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
By Emmanuel Sherman
BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa – Over the weekend, Vice President Jeremiah Koung dedicated Krish Veneer Industries, perhaps the largest sawmill in Liberia.
Established in 2019, the Indian-owned Krish produces and exports timber, plywood and veneer, a decorated wooden material. It processes between 25,000 and 27,000 cubic meters of wood per year, according to an official environmental audit.
“This is a clear demonstration that India is not only a friend of Liberia in words but in deeds,” Koung told the dedication in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County. He toured the facility before breaking ground. A crowd of officials, chiefs and elders celebrated the event with workers dressed in protective gear.
“We are happy because these kinds of investments employ our people. If most of the logs can be put into cubes, planks and other things before getting them out of here, there will be job creation,” added Koung.
It might have been Krish’s dedication; however, the company has been in the news several times over noncompliance with the law. The DayLight has compiled these well-documented facts about Krish with supporting evidence:
Ghost of ‘Blood Timber’
The location Krish occupies is a symbol of sub-regional wartime atrocities. Between 1991 and 1997, Guus Kouwenhoven, a Dutch gunrunner and eventual war criminal, operated the Timber Management Corporation from there.
Koung referenced the facility in his speech. “I know the TIMCO yard used to be around here where we used to burn coal,” he recalled. “We were those children around here doing the wheelbarrow from here to town to carry the coals.”
Picture taken on October 27, 1992, North of Monrovia showing ULIMO members of the Maquis patrolling the area and searching for NPFL members. (Photo by Alain BOMMENEL / AFP)
TIMCO’s logs helped fuel the First Liberian Civil War (1989 – 1997). The Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that it and other companies illegally traded arms to Liberian militias and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) of Sierra Leone, leading to mass killings of civilians.
This became known as “blood timber,” “conflict timber,” and “logs of war.” Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf mentioned it in a recent opinion.
Both Kouwenhoven and his business partner, ex-President Charles Taylor, were convicted of war crimes for their role in the murderous trade. Taylor is serving a 50-year sentence in a British prison. Kouwenhoven, meanwhile, was sentenced to 19 years in absentia by a Dutch court while he lives in South Africa.
Krish Illegally Operates
Krish is a partnership, not a corporation, as required by the Regulation on Bidder Qualifications and the Public Procurement Concession Act. According to its partnership agreement as of March this year, Antique Ahmed and Kamal Parwini are Indian nationals with 57 percent and 43 percent shares, respectively.
The legal instruments restrict forestry companies to corporations, not partnerships. They are a safeguard against the limited liabilities and lifespans of partnerships, as opposed to corporations.
The Public Procurement and Concession Commission has asked the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) to investigate Krish’s business status, according to a letter, seen by The DayLight.
A screenshot of Krish’s partnership agreement
Furthermore, Krish’s head office is in Buchanan, per its legal documents. That violates the National Forestry Reform Law, which calls for all sawmills to have their main offices in Monrovia. This rule is consistent with a provision of a repealed law that was used to hold TIMCO accountable in 2005.
Krish Rents from the FDA Boss’ Family
The land where Krish operates belongs to the family of the FDA Managing Director, Rudolph Merab. Merab inherited the plot from Rose Hill James, his late mother, who inherited it from Merab’s grandfather.
“Merab is from Bassa, and the property is owned by his grandfather,” said Clarence Massaquoi, Merab’s cousin. “Stephen Hill is managing the property; he is a cousin of Merab’s.
A screenshot of an obituary of Edward Merab, Rudolph Marab’s late elder brother, confirms the FDA Managing Director is a member of the Hill family, which owns the land Krish rents.
Khalil Haider, another of Merab’s cousins, corroborated that information. “That place is for Merab’s mother and her family,” Haider said.
The two men’s comments are confirmed by an obituary of Edward, Merab’s elder brother, which shows that the FDA’s boss is a member of the Hill family, the property’s original owners.
This establishes that Merab is caught between two interests involving Krish: a landlord and a forestry regulator. Such a clash breaks the Code of Conduct for Public Officials, which prohibits Merab from “situations of conflict that impair, or are likely to impair, the performance of their official duties.”
Krish’s Manager is Merab’s Cousin
Turns out, Clarence Massaquoi is not only Merab’s cousin but also Krish’s manager, according to FDA records.
Massaquoi is also an ex-employee of Liberia Wood Management Corporation, Merab’s wartime company. “I worked with Merab from 1999 to 2007 in a managerial role,” he told The DayLight in January.
Noteworthy, Massaquoi is ineligible to conduct logging activities in Liberia due to his wartime role. The Regulation on Bidder Qualifications states that wartime loggers must confess their crimes and restitute unpaid or stolen funds, something Massaquoi did not do.
A screenshot of a Krish export permit showing Clarence Massaquoi in the manager’s row.
Krish Benefits from an Unlawful Contract
Krish’s illegal logging love story with Merab and Massaquoi does not end with the pair’s family and work relationships.
Krish does business with C&C Corporation, Massaquoi’s own company. Now C&C has a contract with the Mavasagueh Community Forest, a few miles away from Krish. “I can sell to my plywood factory. My buyers are in Buchanan,” Massaquoi said.
However, C&C’s contract did not follow the law, as the FDA had bypassed legal steps in Mavasagueh’s formation. There are nine steps in the formation of a community forest, characterized by locals’ participation and consent.
In Mavasagueh’s case, some communities adjacent to the forest were left out, there was inadequate awareness, and even people in the communities that the FDA recognized did not participate in the 26,003-hectare forest’s mapping exercise.
Civil Society organizations criticized the formation of the Mavasagueh Community Forest.
The FDA ignored the issues that actors raised, including the absence of civil society organizations during Mavasagueh’s election, which is a requirement.
Matters worsened when Merab allowed Mavasagueh to overlap private land, violating the Community Rights Regulation. Khalil Haider, Merab’s cousin and Paynesville resident, claims 3,200 acres in Mavasagueh.
Haider, who said he was Massaquoi’s step-brother, revealed Merab encouraged him to drop his claim for the contract to continue. Though Merab ignored The DayLight’s queries for his side of the story, Massaquoi corroborated the claim. “Haider and I settled… so the FDA should let the document be processed,” Massaquoi said.
Krish Exports Illegal Timber
April last year, Krish exported 210 logs (1,243 cubic meters), illegally harvested, to Singapore. LiberTrace, the FDA’s computerized system that tracks timber, had red-flagged the logs, but Merab still approved their shipment.
Out of the 210 logs, 66 had minor issues, including differences between their species, sizes and lengths in the system, and the ones exported. A whopping 144, or nearly 70 percent of the consignment, had major errors. There were 66 of these logs whose harvest had not been approved by the FDA.
Krish exported at least three other times to Singapore and the UAE, with some 20 to 30 percent of the logs illegal.
C&C Corporation trucks transport logs from Mavasagueh Community Forest to Krish Veneer Industries. The DayLight/Ojuku Kangar
This story was a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ) production.
Top: An elevated view of a 450-acre plot in the Gba Community Forest in Nimba County being cleared for a mine waste plant. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Esau J. Farr
ArcelorMittal Liberia gave the Gba Community Forest US$150,000 to clear 450 acres for a waste plant, but locals misused the money
Gba and Westwood Corporation signed an MoU to clear-cut the area anyway to make up for the stolen funds
The deal includes an unspecified number of logs that a previous company had illegally harvested, costing the government revenue
FDA authorized Westwood to skip harvesting requirements, including a mapping and GPS-recording of trees, undoing the immediate past administration’s legal order
Westwood exported the timber to Italy, though the harvesting breaks Liberia’s timber trade agreement with the European Union
GBAPA, Nimba County – A cleared patch of the Gba Community Forest, a rocky conservation woodland, welcomes visitors to Sehyi Geh Town. Chainsaw-wielding loggers from a little-known company pile up logs in the clear-cut patch.
As it stands, Westwood Corporation has exported a combined 216 logs (921.124 cubic meters) from Gba, according to official records. The consignments were shipped in March to Sangiorgi Lugnami, a renowned Italian company. A third export of 142 logs has been requested for Bangladesh in the name of Leifwood APS of Denmark.
The exports, however, violate Liberia’s timber trade agreement with the European Union, known as the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA). Under the 2011 agreement, only logs from legal sources, listed and verified, can be exported.
Westwood signed an MoU to clear-cut 450 acres (about 182 hectares) of forestland in the 10,939-hectare forest in Nimba County’s Yarmein District. Westwood agreed to pay Gba US$8 per cubic meter, with the agreement ending next month. A receipt, seen by The DayLight, shows that Westwood deposited US$3,570 into a Gba account last month.
“They have proven to us that they are capable of doing the job due to the machinery they have,” said Samuel Johnson, Gba’s leader, in March. Johnson died shortly after the interview.
But the Gba-Westwood MoU does not qualify the logs as legally sourced. There are five contracts or permits in forestry where legal timber comes from. They are: a forest management contract, a timber sale contract, a community forest management agreement, a private use permit, and a forest use permit.
The GBA-Westwood deal comes close to a forest use permit but differs from it remarkably. This permit is issued through a procurement procedure, for research, tourism, or local use, according to the National Forestry Reform Law and the Regulation on Tender, Award and Administration of Contracts and Permits. The VPA is based on Liberian legal instruments.
Two experts The DayLight interviewed, who preferred not to be named, said the Gba logs were only for domestic markets. They can be converted into planks, generate additional income for locals, and provide temporary employment opportunities for chainsaw millers.
The Nimba flycatcher
Initially, Westwood was not in the picture. ArcelorMittal Liberia had given Gba US$150,000 in 2014 to clear 450 acres for a mine waste plant. The money was also compensation for a 60-acre plot the company had earlier cleared.
Gba, however, misapplied the funds and failed to clear the area. Subsequently, Gba’s allegedly corrupt leadership was replaced in a scandal that rocked community forestry.
“[ArcelorMittal] paid US$150,000 to Gba to buy a machine or equipment to fell these trees or clear everything out of the site,” said Saye Thompson, the leader for the Blei Community Forest in the same region.
Westwood has exported 216 logs from an illegal source to Italy. Picture credit: Anonymous
Nyan Flomo, who has taken up a leadership role in the wake of Johnson’s death, corroborated that account. ArcelorMittal did not respond to queries for comment up to press time.
The US$150,000 aside, the Westwood arrangement breaks Gba’s original MoU with ArcelorMittal. The document obligates the steel giant to identify trees and guide the clear-cutting process. It nullifies any other MoU associated with the harvesting, such as the one with Westwood.
Gba and ArcelorMittal are conservation partners. Gba is one of four communities adjacent to the East Nimba Nature Reserve (ENNR). Home to the endangered Nimba toad and Nimba flycatcher, the ENNR is part of the Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site, running through Liberia, Ivory Coast and Guinea.
Gba co-manages the 13,500-hectare forestland alongside ArcelorMittal, FDA, Blei, Sehyi Ko-doo, and Zor. This collaboration helps protect plants and animals of that region, which, experts say, renders logging harmful to that ecosystem.
And the stakes are higher for Westwood, with Gba its first official operation. The company has experience in construction, having constructed a stretch of the Gbarnga-Lofa highway in 2014. Samuel Cooper, its CEO, declined to speak on the matter.
‘Inability to perform’
Permitting Westwood to export, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) undid what its past administration had done to enforce the law. In a February letter, Managing Director Rudolph Merab excluded Westwood from cutting blocks—regulated forest portions where harvesting occurs. Merab, who did not return emailed questions, has spoken before about deregulation and a drive to increase timber exports.
“Following a desk review of your acquisition of the Gba Community Forest…, you are hereby approved to commence operations,” read the letter.
Merab’s action is the complete opposite of how the FDA handled the Gba case nearly 10 years ago. In 2016, Gba signed a similar MoU with the Liberia Tree Trading Company Thanry. However, the FDA administration then ensured that LTTC Thanry had an annual plan that contained blocks and a map to regulate the harvesting, at least consistent with the law.
Later, Gba terminated LTTC Thanry’s contract due to its “inability to perform,” bringing in Six S (6S) International Trading Limited.
Screenshot of a 2016 FDA report that validated 450 acres in the Gba Community Forest to be clear-cut. However, the current FDA administration deviated from this standard to allow Westwood Corporation to clear-cut the forest.
Though Six S had the capacity, the FDA disapproved of the new company’s harvest because it deviated from the approved plan, several past and present FDA officials familiar with the matter said.
“I [confirm] that during my time at the [legality verification department], 6S did not receive any export permit in LiberTrace,” said Deputy FDA Managing Director Gertrude Nyaley. At the time, Mrs. Nyaley headed the department, which co-manages LiberTrace, the computer system that tracks Liberian timber. She said the company had a tax issue, but, like the anonymous sources, presented no evidence. Six S’s official number did not ring, and it did not answer emailed queries.
Whether unauthorized harvesting or taxes, the Gba-Westwood MoU included an unspecified number of the problematic logs that Six S cut. This violates the Regulation on Confiscated Logs, Timber and Timber Products.
Per the regulation, the FDA is required to investigate, seek a warrant to auction the logs, and fine Six S. Instead, Merab permitted Six S to sell the logs in question to Westwood for US$34 and US$55, losing that revenue.
‘Behind the Curtain’
Gba locals The DayLight interviewed said they were unaware of the Westwood agreement. They had only heard it through the sound of earthmovers and loggers in the forest.
“First, when they came, they just went into the forest and we said, ‘No, you don’t do things like that,’” recalled Aaron Lah, the town chief of Sehyi Geh Town. ‘“This is a town and people are here. Why did you people just come and not reach the townspeople before going into the forest?’”
The Social Entrepreneurs for Sustainable Development (SESDev), a Paynesville-based NGO training Gba’s leaders in forest governance since 2023, said it was not informed about the deal.
Thompson, the Community Forests Union’s head, said there were missteps.
“If you don’t share information on what you are doing, it becomes corruption,” said Thompson. “Everything is behind the curtain.”
Liberia Forest Media Watch provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
