Africa-Press – Liberia. The Independent Forest Monitoring Coordination Mechanism (IFMCM), a conglomeration of seven Liberian civil society organizations has strongly condemned the processes leading to the harvesting and the subsequent exportation of timber products by Renaissance Group Incorporated (RGI) outside of Liberia’s forestry legal and regulatory framework.
Addressing a press conference over the weekend, IFMCM said the exporting of illegally sourced timber is a failure of the rule of law and undermines Liberia’s efforts towards attaining FLEGT VPA license. The EU FLEGT license ensure logs exported to Europe are legal.
RGI, a logging company operating in Liberia was fined US$105,000 by the Forestry development Authority for illegally harvesting log outside its concession area, TSCA2 in Grand Bassa County.
The investigation found RGI and Freedom Group Liberia liable for illegally logging at least 14,000 m3 of timber in in 2018-19 worth an estimated US$ 4.4 million at the time on the international market. An IFMCM briefing and the MoJ-FDA’s own investigation confirmed that RGI illegally logged valuable Ekki species in Grand Bassa County, six kilometers outside TSC-A2 concession.
The company paid the fine, but when the FDA barred it from exporting the log as part of its punishment, RGI sued the FDA at the 2nd Judicial Circuit in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County.
The Court ruled in January 2022 in favor of the company on grounds that since the FDA did not refer the case to the MoJ but rather imposed an administrative penalty, it was liable for subjecting RGI to “double jeopardy.
The FDA appealed to the Supreme Court, but the High Court upheld the Lower Court’s verdict and order it to proceed with its mandate.
The IFMCM said FDA should have appropriately referred the case to the MoJ for prosecution “because the offence significantly harms the interest of local communities” and “resulted in damage to forest resources exceeding US$10,000.” RGI payment of the administrative penalty may have suggested that the conduct giving rise to the offence does not support a felony criminal charge,” the group said.
However, the IFMCH lauded SGS’s refusal to enroll the logs in question into Liberia’s chain of custody system, thereby categorizing them as illegal logs under Liberia’s forestry legal requirements.
The IFMCM called on the Government of Liberia to ensure that the laws of Liberia, especially, forestry laws should be respected and enforced at all times.
According to the IFMC, during the April NMSMC meeting, the lingering issue of the TSC A2 illegally harvested logs was again tabled for discussion arising from concerns raised by CSOs to provide update on progress by the FDA in bringing closure to this illegal logging saga.
Mrs. Gertrude K Nyalay, LVD Manager, informed the meeting that two shipments have been made by RGI representing 81 of 125 logs processed by RGI outside of Liberia’s Chain of Custody system, which exists to monitor and verify all legal logging operations in Liberia.
Said the group: “At the moment there are unconfirmed reports that RGI, without a forest resource license, is making plans to process the remaining logs, scattered in the illegal logging area in Doe Clan, District #1, Grand Bassa County. As long as the illegal logging connected to TSC-A2 remains unresolved, sustainable forest management is being undermined, including issuance of FLEGT license under Liberia’s VPA. It clearly validates statements that Liberia’s forest sector is replete with illegalities.”
The IFMCM said while it respects the court’s ruling, it believes that the FDA’s action to impose fine on RGI rather than revoking its license and prosecuting it for harvesting logs outside a forest resource license area provided the court concrete reason for its ruling in favor of RGI.
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