KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — Sime Darby Plantation Bhd (SDP) has begun legal proceedings against Liberty Shared managing director Duncan Jepson in the Eastern District of Virginia, United States (US), to obtain important information regarding a complaint he filed with the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC).
SDP said Jepson, in his complaint, alleged wrongful disclosures in SDP’s Sustainability Report 2019 and the SC subsequently sought additional information from the company.
“Thus, it is vitally important that SDP is able to obtain limited but critical information from the complaint filed by Jepson,” the plantation group said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
According to SDP, Jepson is, and was at all material times, the managing director of Liberty Shared, a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
Liberty Shared filed a complaint with the US Customs and Border Protection on April 20, 2020, alleging the use of forced labour in the production of palm oil in SDP’s Malaysian estates.
SDP said it was made aware of the complaint on July 7, 2020, when Liberty Shared issued a summary of the complaint on its website.
“This summary did not contain sufficient information to allow SDP to close any alleged gaps in its operations, which would have naturally benefited our workforce,” it said.
SDP said the legal proceedings, which began on March 9, marked the first time in its 200-year history that it had resorted to taking legal action against an NGO.
“SDP engages with non-governmental and civil society organisations across the world, supportive and respectful of the important role they play in society. It is this relationship of mutual respect that has allowed SDP to become an industry leader, trusted by our peers, customers, and important stakeholders like highly reputable NGOs.
“It saddens us greatly that despite several direct and indirect engagements, Jepson continues to withhold vital information that could have helped the very workers he claims to champion,” the company said.
According to SDP, it appointed PwC Singapore in October 2020, on Jepson’s request, to share with it the information necessary to address the alleged issues found in its plantations and subsequently, PwC Singapore appointed yet another individual who works closely with Jepson and Liberty Shared, also on Jepson’s request.
“Neither PwC Singapore nor the individual has been able to share the material information needed to address any issues that may exist in our plantations,” it added. — Bernama
