Eight companies to face charges over logging rain forest in northern Malaysia

Eight companies will be charged for allegedly failing to report their logging activities in northern Malaysia, where they are accused of illegally clearing rain forests, a newspaper reported Monday.

The companies are accused of violating environmental regulations by clearing rain forest in the Lojing Highlands in northern Kelantan state, the New Straits Times quoted Sazmi Miah, an official of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, as saying.

The report did not detail what types of companies were implicated.

Sazmi was overseas Monday and could not be reached for comments, said a ministry official.

Late last month local papers had reported that land clearing by 22 companies had endangered the highlands' forest reserves and damaged ancestral graves and orchards belonging to local communities. Only five of the 22 companies had the required approvals.

Annuar Musa, an official from the governing United Malays National Organization party, or UMNO, in Kelantan state said charging the eight companies was "a good start" though he hoped others would also be held accountable.

"The enforcement should be consistent," Annuar, the state UMNO chairman, told The Associated Press. "The damage is not related to just a few companies."

The eight developers are expected to be charged in two weeks, Sazmi, the ministry's parliamentary secretary, reportedly said.

If found guilty, the companies could each be fined up to 100,000 ringgit (US$30,500; €22,400), and their directors could be jailed for up to five years, the New Straits Times said.

In the past weeks, UMNO officials have exchanged accusations with officials of the opposition Pan Malaysian Islamic Party, known as PAS, which rules the state, over who is responsible for the damage in the highlands.

Kelantan is Malaysia's only state ruled by the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party.