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FDA and the Abandoned Logs Lies

October 30, 2024

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.

Logs are abandoned when left unattended at a location for a certain period. The Regulation on Abandoned Logs, Timber, and Timber Products imposes fines, a prison term, and contract termination.

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.

Nyaley posted pictures of the petitioning and a court document to her Facebook page in July this year. She was responding to a DayLight fact-check of false claims she had made on Okay FM’s Forest Hour regarding abandoned logs processes.

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).

EU to End Timber Agreement with Liberia

October 26, 2024

Top: The European Union has notified Liberia that it would terminate a trade agreement with the West African country. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

By Gabriel M. Dixon

Monrovia – The European Union has notified Liberia of its intent to terminate a timber trade pact between the bloc and the West African country.

The Head of Delegation to Liberia Nona Deprez confirmed the EU’s decision to end the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) in a letter to the NGO Coalition, a network of Liberian organizations.

“I confirm that the European Union (EU) communicated its intention to terminate the VPA FLEGT,” said Deprez in the letter seen by The DayLight. “A formal notification to the [Liberia] government is in process.”

The VPA ensures logs Liberia exports to the EU and other countries come from legal sources. It is a key component of the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Action Plan, known as FLEGT. It aims to address illegal logging and guarantees local communities’ benefits from forest resources.

The EU and Liberia began to negotiate the VPA in 2009 and signed the pact two years later.

The Liberian Legislature ratified the agreement in 2013, after which it became legally enforceable by both parties.

Deprez’s letter did not say the reason behind the planned termination. However, the news comes weeks after the European Parliament decided to terminate the VPA with Cameroon. It and Liberia are two of six countries in the agreement in Africa and Asia.

Most Liberian logs end up on Asian markets with lax timber regulatory regimes. The DayLight/Derick Snyder

The EU based its decision on Cameroon’s failure to qualify for FLEGT licensing, which allows a country to trade timber to EU member states.

Cameroon had promised to complete legal reforms for FLEGT licensing in five years but has instead witnessed illegal logging.

The situation in Liberia mirrors that of Cameroon.

Liberia has not met the requirements for the FLEGT license, though it has been 11 years since it signed the VPA.

Like Cameroon, Liberia exports the majority of its timber to Asian countries.

A recent review of forest concessions paints a grim picture of logging in Liberia. it says none of the 11 concessions evaluated were compliant with national laws. Companies lack forestry licenses, legal identity, and performance bonds.

Last year, the Associated Press reported an EU-commissioned, independent investigation found illegal logging on a “significant scale,” with the Forestry Development Authority breaching the law. The FDA regulates the forestry sector.

The investigation was prompted by the illegal harvesting of US$3 million worth of logs by the logging firm, Renaissance Group Inc. The FDA was found to have made unlawful decisions in assessing the severity of offenses and downplaying the seriousness of violations.

The Associated Press also reported Liberia exports 70 percent of its timber outside the legal system built with EU support, citing diplomatic sources.

NGOs are making a last-minute attempt to have the EU reconsider its decision.

Andrew Zelemen of the National Union of Community Forest Development Committees (NUCFDC), fears the decision would undermine gains in the forestry sector. Termination means more illegal logs to Asian markets with lax timber regulations.

“The termination of the VPA would likely have detrimental effects on local communities by promoting illegal logging, undermining economic stability and threatening environmental sustainability,” said Zelemen.

Dayugar Johnson of the Independent Forest Monitor said the NGO Coalition would try to halt the decision. He said it would stifle climate change mitigation efforts.

“We have started engaging various stakeholders locally and internationally,” said Johnson. “Our next move is to engage with the EU parliament to reason with them not to pass the resolution canceling the VPA in Liberia.”

The EU and the FDA did not immediately respond to queries for comments. However, in her letter to the NGOs, Deprez said Liberia’s forest was crucial for the region, and the EU remained a partner.

“We will continue to support and invest in the sector to strengthen it,” Deprez’s letter read, “to make it more sustainable and to fight illegality.”

This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).

Actors Trained to Restore Lost Forests

October 23, 2024

Top: Participants of a five-day training exercise in Yekepa prepare a site for planting. Picture credit: USFS

By James Harding Giahyue

YEKEPA – Twenty-four forestry actors have been trained to combat deforestation and degraded forestlands in and around the East Nimba Nature Reserve, a conservation hub in the northeast county.

The exercise was part of the United States Forest Service’s support of Liberia’s AFR100 pledge to restore a million hectares of forests by 2030. (AFR100 seeks to reforest 100 million hectares in Africa) It seeks to restore wildlife—plants and animal species—in one of Liberia’s important landscapes.

“The workshop contributes significantly to enhancing forest restoration efforts in Liberia,” said Benedictus Freeman, USFS Liberia’s country coordinator. USFS has worked alongside USAID in Liberia since 2003. The training is the collaboration’s latest effort.

“By providing participants with the necessary knowledge and skills, the workshop has empowered them to play a vital role in restoring degraded lands in Liberia and promoting sustainable forest management,” Freeman added.

Deforestation, forest degradation and wildfire are some of Liberia’s biggest environmental challenges. Between 2001 and 2023, Liberia lost 2.36 million hectares of tree cover— 17 hectares from fire—according to the Global Forest Watch.

Experts say harmful farming methods, logging, and mining are the key drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Liberia.

So, for five days last week at the Nimba Ecolodge in Yekepa, the forestry actors learned different techniques. They learned how to manage native tree nurseries, including shade construction with local materials, bed preparation, seed selection and sowing.

A nursery was established at the East Nimba Nature Reserve to spark the restoration activities.

The FDA, USFS Liberia and Guinean NGO Resource Naturelles Sans Pauvreté facilitated the training. It followed an April-May study tour during which USFS’ Guinean partners shared their experiences with their Liberian counterparts.

Freeman said training laid the foundation for a potential collaboration between Guinea and Liberia, particularly in the Nimba landscape.

Participants came from the University of Liberia, the Forest Training Institute, and the Forestry Development Authority. Others came from the reserve, communities adjacent to the reserve and civil society.

They toured potential forest restoration sites and experimental plots created by ArcelorMittal Liberia, which comanages the reserve with the FDA. The company donated seedlings.

“It means a lot to me. All the people who participated will be able to apply the knowledge in their communities,” said Alphonso Kiedor, FDA’s restoration manager. “It will transform our learning field as well. I am sure that we are going to make a great change.”

Freeman said the next steps would be to maintain the partnership with the FDA, ArcelorMittal and other participants.

Court Says CARI Timber Smuggling Case Goes On

October 22, 2024

Top: The Sixth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

By Wilmot Konah

GBARNGA, Bong County – A court said it will hear the case against four suspected timber smugglers who operated at the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI).

Last week, Judge George S. Wiles Jr. denied a dismissal motion filed by a lawyer representing two Chinese Chaolong and Guoping Zang, a Turkish national Mehmet Onder Erem and their Liberian partner Terrentius Tidiboh Collins also known as Terrence Collins.

Defense lawyer Nathaniel Innis, Sr. had argued Forestry Development Authority’s board did not approve the lawsuit.

But Judge Wiles of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County said the petition was unlawful. “For a party asserting claim not to have legal capacity to sue, it must be done in accordance with our law and practice,” read the ruling.

The FDA is suing the men for a 12-month prison term, US$25,000 and the forfeiture of their equipment. The court has seized the equipment and thousands of timber the men left at CARI.

The suspects deny any wrongdoing, saying they operated legally.

The case is likely the first since the Regulation on Confiscated Logs, Timber and Timber Products was formulated six years ago.

The trial starts this Thursday at 2 pm.

This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).

Foresters Trained to Identify Timber Using Technology Amid Smuggling Rise

October 15, 2024

Top: Participants of USFS’ timber identification workshop at CSIR-FORIG in Kumasi, Ghana. Picture credit: United States Forest Service

By James Harding Giahyue

MONROVIA – The United States Forest Service (USFS) has sponsored the training of seven Liberian foresters in identifying timber species using science-based technology through smartphones as part of the institution’s commitment to supporting Liberia in combating illegal timber harvesting and trading.

Drawn from the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), the University of Liberia and the Forestry Training Institute (FTI), participants acquired skills to identify various commercial timber species with the Agritix Xylorix mobile app. The technology is used worldwide for timber tracking and networking.

“As part of the response to address illegal timber trafficking in Liberia, the US Forest Service is providing technical and logistical support to strengthen the capacity of in-country stakeholders, including government ministries, agencies and civil society organizations to achieve Liberia’s policy objectives,” said Dr Benedictus Freeman, USFS Liberia’s Country Coordinator.

Illegal timber trafficking has been on the rise for several years in Liberia, with traffickers exploiting the industry’s capacity gaps. “Kpokolo,” the newest form, involves traffickers shaping timber into blocks and smuggling them through containers, robbing communities and the Liberian government of revenue.

Illegal logs held by the FDA at the Klay checkpoint in Bomi. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

The workshop’s participants acquired skillsets in wood anatomy, imaging, and using the Agritix Xylorix platforms to review timber’s macroscopic features.

Participants also learned how to apply national and international laws and regulations in combating illegal timber trafficking. The Forestry Research Institute of Ghana conducted the training From October 7-11 in Kumasi, Ghana’s Ashanti Region.

“A lot was achieved in wood anatomy,” said Moses Wenyanpulu of the FDA’s Research and Development Department.

“Like every human, every wood species has a unique and distinct fingerprint called anatomical features found within the wood structure. Understanding these features are very critical to properly identifying timber or lumber,” Wenyanpulu added.

USFS has been active in Liberia since 2003, alongside the USAID on several projects.

Apart from its anti-timber trafficking project, it has helped develop FTI’s curriculum, provided teaching assistance to the institute, and supported students’ programs. USFS also supports the ecotourism development of the East Nimba Nature Reserve and the Lake Piso Multiple Use Reserve.

FDA Seeks Prison Term for Suspected Timber Traffickers

August 15, 2024

Top: Terrence Collins, also known as Terrentius Tidiboh Collins, is one of four suspected timber smugglers. Picture credit: LinkedIn/Terrentius Collins

By James Harding Giahyue

GBARNGA – The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) is seeking penalties for four suspected timber smugglers who operated at the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI) in a lawsuit at the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County. The court has seized thousands of timber abandoned at the facility and impounded the machines the suspects used.

FDA petitioned the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County to imprison two Chinese nationals Chaolong Zang and Guoping Zang, a Turkish man Mehmet Onder Erem, and their Liberian alleged accomplice Terrence Collins. The agency seeks a 12-month term for the men if convicted, court documents filed this and last month show.

The lawsuit seeks a US$25,000 fine for the men as well as a forfeiture of machines and a vehicle used in their operations.

It accuses the men of conspiring and disregarding the law to “engage in logging activities, including the illegal harvesting, purchasing, transporting and processing of timber…” It adds that they “established a mini sawmill on the premises of… CARI…, where timber was being processed and smuggled out of Liberia…”

The lawsuit also seeks the forfeiture of a vehicle recently used by the suspects to transfer some of the timber to another location. Police in Gbarnga had arrested Jonah Jackson, the driver of one of the suspects, for transferring the wood to his house in Suakoko, police records show.

A collage showing allegedly illegally harvested timber at the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI). The DayLight/Rebazar D. Forte

“On Wednesday, July 17, 2024, Mr. Zang sent me for the wood to take it from the CARI compound and carry it to my place in Suakoko for safekeeping,” Jackson wrote in a police affidavit.

“On Sunday, July 21, 2024, we continued to haul the balance. But surprisingly, while we got on the compound, we saw the CARI security and the OIC, and they called the police to arrest us.”

The court has impounded all machines and vehicles and imposed a stay on the timber until it determines the FDA’s petition. If granted, it will be the first time the agency has enforced the Regulation on Confiscated Logs, Timber and Timber Products since it was formulated in 2017. Previous attempts in Bomi, Gbarpolu and Monrovia in 2022 proved futile.

The lawsuit comes barely a month after the FDA abruptly aborted an initial attempt to petition the court. An April investigation by The DayLight had exposed the suspected syndicate, showing photographs and documents of the allegedly illegal operation.

Board Resolution

The men deny any wrongdoing, saying they would not have exported the timber without the FDA’s approval. They are asking Judge Cornelius Wennah to dismiss the case for “lack of legal capacity to sue” them.

Their lawyer Nathaniel K. Innis, Sr. argued that two prosecution resolutions by the board of directors of the FDA had expired. One of the resolutions, signed in 2022, calls on the FDA to prosecute alleged forestry offenders. The other, signed in 2017, endorsed the confiscation regulation being used in the trial.

“It behooves the current Managing Director Hon. J. Rudolph Merab, Sr. to have filed a petition against the [four men] with a board resolution…,” the petition read.

Jonah Jackson, a driver of one of the suspects, transferred some of the allegedly illegally harvested timber to his house in Suakoko, Bong County. The DayLight/Anonymous

Innis also argued that the suspects legally purchased logs from Alpha Logging and Wood Processing Company, which abandoned its concession in Lofa and Gbarpolu Counties. Therefore, Innis further argues, that the men could not forfeit the vehicles or machines and that the FDA had no right to confiscate the wood in question.

In Innis’ motion for dismissal, FDA lawyer Cllr. Yanquoi Dolo counterargued that it has the authority to enforce forestry legal frameworks and that the board resolution, which Innis hinged his argument, was a matter of corporate governance. Dolo argued the 2022 resolution was still valid and should be used to prosecute the suspects.

Dolo further argued that the men’s operations were illegal as the FDA did not permit them. He added that their transactions with Alpha Logging were not recorded in the FDA’s timber-tracking system.

The next hearing of the case has not been scheduled.

[Additional reporting by a Bong-based journalist]

This was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).

Illegal Company Dashes Sinoe Towns’ Hopes

July 18, 2024

created by dji camera

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).

FDA Aborts Process to Seize CARI Stolen Timber

July 15, 2024

Top: The Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County. The DayLight/Wilmot Konah

By Rebazar D. Forte

GBARNGA, Bong County – The Forestry Development Authority aborted its process to obtain a court order to seize thousands of timber abandoned by smugglers at the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI).

Multiple sources told The DayLight that the FDA would petition the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga last Monday for the warrant, the first step in confiscating the wood.

Before then, Deputy Managing Director Gertrude Nyaley had appeared to have corroborated that information when she gave a hint on the Forest Hour radio show on Okay FM.

When Cllr. Yanquoi Dolo, the FDA’s lawyer, arrived at the court on Monday, July 8, at 10:20 am, it looked like the process had begun. The FDA’s Lawyer entered the courthouse and exited it about 15 minutes later, according to our reporter.

Dolo declined an interview with The DayLight, hopped into a white vehicle, and left the courtyard.

Daniel Porlenkollie, the court’s clerk, confirmed that the FDA had not sought a warrant from the court.

The atmosphere at CARI was similar to that of the court. A police vehicle tried to enter the area where the illegally harvested planks were but did not. The vehicle left the area after honking for minutes, an indication of an abruptly aborted plan.

Dr. James Dolo, CARI’s officer in charge, said he was unaware of any plan by the FDA to seize the wood.

“The only team that came here was the Crime [Service] Division, based in Gbarnga,” he told The DayLight. They came to make a follow up on the Chinese guys who operated here in the fence, a group from the Economic Crimes Division,” Dr. James Dolo added. The division did not immediately respond to queries.

Cllr. Yanquoi Dolo, the FDA’s lawyer, entered the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court on Monday, July 8, 2024, reportedly to seek a warrant to seize thousands of timber at the Central Agriculture Research Institute but abandoned the plan shortly after. The DayLight/Rebazar Forte

It would have been the first time the FDA had enforced the Regulation on Confiscated Logs, Timber and Timber Products since it was formulated in 2017.

Under the regulation, the regulator must seek a court warrant to auction the planks. However, to do so, it must obtain court warrants to seize and confiscate the timber. If the planks are unsold at the auction, they must be given to the community or civil society.

The smugglers face a fine of thrice the value of the planks, a six-month prison term, or both fine and imprisonment upon a conviction.

The DayLight investigation discovered the network’s ringleaders were two Chinese Chaolong Zhong and Guoping Zhang, a Turkish Mehmet Onder Erem, and a Liberian named Terrence Collins.

The traffickers ran a company called CTL Industries in the China Aid compound of CARI for over two years. They purchased timber from Lofa, Nimba and vendors in Suakoko, Bong County, and processed and smuggled the wood via containers, the investigation found.

A screengrab of LiberTrace shows CTL Industries has never paid a dime for timber export, further proof of its trafficking activities.

Pictures and documents obtained by The DayLight show CTL trafficked timber in containers with the help of about 33 workers.

However, they halted their operations just before last year’s elections, abandoning an unspecified number of planks and equipment.

Records of LiberTrace, Liberia’s timber-tracking computer system, show no activities for CTL Industries, further proof of the illegality of its activities.

A collage featuring timber CTL Industries trafficked the abandoned at the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI) in Suakoko, Bong County. The DayLight/Rebazar D. Forte

This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).

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