{"id":5725,"date":"2025-01-16T15:51:49","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T15:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=5725"},"modified":"2025-01-16T15:54:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T15:54:30","slug":"fda-illegally-permits-abandoned-logs-export-missing-over-us100k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2025\/01\/16\/fda-illegally-permits-abandoned-logs-export-missing-over-us100k\/","title":{"rendered":"FDA Illegally Permits Abandoned Logs Export, Missing Over US$100K"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top: Some of the 431 logs Iroko Timber and Logging Company harvested and took about a year and six months to export. The DayLight\/Derick Snyder<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Esau J. Farr<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MONROVIA \u2013 The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) permitted the export of 2,549 cubic meters of abandoned logs, failing to punish the company involved, and losing substantial revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iroko Logging and Timber Company exported two consignments of logs on May 7 and July 18 last year, based on official documents. The combined 431 logs were shipped to Chittagong, Bangladesh via the cargo ship MV Nimeh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that was more than one-and-a-half years after the logs were harvested in the Central River Dugbe Community Forest in Sinoe County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iroko had harvested the logs in October 2022, per the Nigerian-owned company\u2019s website<\/a> and Facebook page<\/a>. It only transported the 431 logs from the Jaedae District woodland to an open field near Greenville in February and March last year, residents and other sources said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That violates the Regulation on Abandoned Logs, Timber and Timber Products. The 2017 regulation requires all logs to be transported, processed, or exported between three weeks and six months after harvesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a log stays in a particular location outside the regulatory timeframe, the FDA is obligated to investigate, auction the logs, or fine the company that harvested them.  The fine includes a tenth, a twentieth and a fortieth of twice the total value of the abandoned logs, depending on the species classes.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the FDA did not do that with Iroko, the government lost US$103,387, according to The DayLight\u2019s analysis, based on the export permits and the regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To arrive at the fine, the newspaper grouped each species of the logs and doubled their volumes. Next, it multiplied the total volumes by their corresponding, FDA-approved prices and added those products. Then it added all of the first-class species, based on the FDA\u2019s categorization, and found 10 percent of that sum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The newspaper did the same with the second-class ones, finding five percent of the sum this term. Finally, it added the percentage values of the two classes to establish what should have been Iroko\u2019s fine and the government\u2019s revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The loss of US$103,387 comes when the forestry sector faces a downturn in revenue generation. From July 2021 to December 2022, the sector generated US$7.65 million, the least in the extractive sector despite Liberia holding the largest patches of West Africa\u2019s remaining rainforests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That figure could be more, though. Iroko left several logs in the Central River Dugbe Community Forest, according to residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A screenshot from Iroko Timber and Logging Company\u2019s Facebook page showing the logs were harvested on October 14, 2022, more than one-and-a-half years before they exported.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bartee Togba, the chief officer of the community forest, corroborated the residents\u2019 account. Togba said villagers had counted over 60 logs in the woodland on the border with Grand Kru. \u201cThere were more logs,\u201d he said, and there would be an additional counting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the second<\/a> of two DayLight investigations last year, the FDA promised to investigate Iroko over the logs\u2019 abandonment but did not. The regulator did not respond to queries for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From July to August last year, Iroko paid the Liberian government US$173,432, covering export, land rental and other fees. The evidence, however, shows that the company owed the government US$16,263 in land rental fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That August, Iroko asked the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) to pay the balance due in September and October. The LRA agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we default on this agreement, our tax debt may be referred to the Ministry of Justice to sue for the unpaid tax and or court\u2019s authorization to seize and sell our property,\u201d the agreement\u2019s terms and conditions read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the money has not been paid, according to Iroko\u2019s tax payment record, seen by The DayLight. Despite months of notice, Iroko and the LRA did not respond to inquiries for comments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top: Some of the 431 logs Iroko Timber and Logging Company harvested and took about a year and six months to export. The DayLight\/Derick Snyder By Esau J. 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