probed
p. 16 · Read in the full issue
Solomon Islands
Bribe claims probed
MALAYSIA’S Berjaya Group said last month it was investigating claims that one of its officials offered a bribe to a Solomon Islands minister.
Commerce, Employment and Trade Minister Joses Tuhanuku issued a state ment saying that Tony Yeong, the managing director of Berjaya Group s Star Harbour Timber Co, offered him a 10,000 Solomon Island dollar (A 54224) bribe to secure a timber deal. Tuhanuku deported Yeong, saying in a statement “The incident is not only illegal, it is an insult.”
Tuhanuku said Yeong offered the bribe “in a large brown envelope” at a meeting last month in the minister s office. The minister said he refused the offer and quoted Yeong as telling him “It was the accepted practice in the South Pacific and indeed around the world for a large company such as Berjaya to show its appreciation to those in government who assisted the com pany.” Tuhanuku said Yeong then offered him a wristwatch, which he also refused. The politically well-connected Berjaya Group said in a statement it was not its policy to offer financial induce ments to government officials. It said Yeong, who had taken full responsibility for the incident, had resigned.
“The company has already com menced an internal investigation of this matter and we will take the appropriate action as the situation warrants.”
Berjaya said it objected to statements by Tuhanuku, which “had cast aspersions on the integrity and credibility of the Berjaya Group and has also imputed impropriety to the manner in which our group carries on business and in our interaction with government officials”.
Berjaya said it would lodge a protest with the Solomon Islands prime minister.
Yeong was unavailable for comment.
The Berjaya Group has offered to buy a 100 per cent stake in Star Harbour, a company with logging rights to 45,000 hectares of forest concessions on the Solomon Islands. Star also planned to set up a 5A81.7 million integrated timber processing complex. Tuhanuku said the incident “only highlighted the endemic corruption which surrounds the timber industry in the Solomon Islands”. “Sadly this problem has only got out of control in the Solomon Islands in the last five or six years, a period which coincides with the big influx of foreign timber com panies into the country.” Reuter □