Untitled - Greenpeace

40
CARVING UP THE CONGO
LOGGING IN REBEL-HELD
TERRITORY – PAYING THE
‘ADMINISTRATION’
The World Bank’s strategy to bring the logging
sector under control fails to call into question
the operations of the largest players in the DRC.
Yet it is these same companies who have been
operating within the DRC system of corruption
for years and who have profited from holding
their titles under a very relaxed tax regime.
Even if the legal review of logging titles is
rigorously conducted, established companies
who are not obviously implicated in moratorium
violations may remain largely unscrutinised.
‘There is simply no way to
conduct business in the
DRC without some form
of bribery.’ 224
Report for USAID, 2003
The Danzer Group is among the top five
logging and timber trading operators in Central
Africa. Recent Greenpeace investigations have
exposed the Group’s involvement in forest
crimes including trading in illegal timber;
bribery; suspected forgery of documents; and
dealing with timber companies and an
individual blacklisted by UN Security Council
for involvement in illicit arms trafficking
activities in Liberia. 217 For instance, one of
Danzer Group’s trading partners, Guus van
Kouwenhoven, a Dutch citizen, was arrested in
The Netherlands in March 2005 and is now
serving an eight-year prison sentence for
violating a UN arms embargo. 218
‘It is questionable whether
a legitimate industry can
even exist in the DRC where
corruption is rampant and
accountability minimal.’ 225
International Security
Information Service, 2002
Danzer subsidiary Siforco is the second largest
logging company in DRC in terms of forest
under its control (1.9 million hectares).
Siforco’s power and money make the company
effectively a state within a state in an area of
several thousand square kilometres in Equateur
and Orientale Provinces. 219 In the towns of
Bumba, Buta and Aketi, people are dependent
on the company to maintain the transport
network and water and electricity
infrastructure. 220
As Greenpeace research shows, the company’s
operations in the DRC are proving just as
ethically questionable as Danzer’s operations
elsewhere in Central Africa.
Siforco has been active in the DRC since
1972. 221 According to a report on Siforco, the
compan made payments to the MLC rebelcontrolled
administration in Equateur during
the recent war, 222 and also makes regular
payments to forestry authorities. 223
Siforco’s operations were disrupted by war, but
in November 2002, it resumed logging
operations in its 523,340 hectare K8 226 forest
zone near Bumba – while the area was still
under control of the MLC (a rebel movement
controlled by warlord-turned-politician Jean-
Pierre Bemba – see pages 82–85).
Olof von Gagern, Head of Danzer’s African
operations, claims that the company ‘made
neither direct payments to the MLC nor
provided the rebel army with logistical support
or aid of any kind. At no time has there been
any contact between SIFORCO and MLC
troops.’ 227 However, the timing of Siforco’s
resumption of operations in K8, and the fact
that it was paying ‘administrative’ taxes in MLC
rebel-controlled territory, 228 implicate Siforco