KOTA KINABALU, Feb 7 — Parti Warisan today lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over the controversial carbon trade deal touted by Deputy Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan.
Its secretary-general Datuk Loretto Padua Jr said that he made the report as “a diligent citizen” because of the secretive and suspicious nature surrounding the signing of the deal, called the Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA).
“There are a lot of contradictions and question marks that need to be looked into deeper by the necessary authorities. This includes the appointment of a third party with no apparent background and experience in the carbon credit field, and the nature of the relationship between the individuals involved in the deal,” he said.
He said that he was making the report in the interests of both state and country.
“We do not want this to turn into another big scandal for the country that will embarrass us in the eyes of the world,” he said.
Padua explained that the issue, involving a 70:30 income revenue sharing between the Sabah government and Singapore-based firm Hoch Standard Pte Ltd, had been published in international news site Al Jazeera on February 2.
The agreement ostensibly involved between 600,000 hectares, up of two million hectares of Sabah forests earmarked for carbon trading for 100 years.
The deal, inked at the end of October last year, was said to be witnessed by Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, Kitingan and the state attorney general Datuk Nor Asiah Mohd Yusof.
Chief Conservator of Forests Datuk Frederick Kugan signed on behalf of the state government while Hoch Standard’s global corporate adviser Stan Golokin signed for the other party.
However, amidst pushback from conservation and native interest groups, Hajiji had in December said that the deal would not proceed until the company had fulfilled all the requirements needed.
