A Swiss charity group dedicated to rainforest preservation has revealed that the Yang Di-Pertua of Sarawak and former Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud is trying to block a report by the British Boradcasting Corporation (BBC) from being aired.
The Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) alleges that UK lawyers acting on behalf of Abdul Taib are attempting to suppress an interview by the BBC with author and BMF executive director Lukas Straumann on his book, Money Logging: On the Trail of the Asian TImber Mafia, a book which claims to expose Abdul Taib’s profiteering from illegal logging operations.
“During an interview with the BBC’s World Service this afternoon, author and BMF executive director Straumann was shown a ‘strictly private and confidential’ letter by Mishcon to the BBC,” BMF said in a statement today, as quoted by The Malaysian Insider.
Mischon de Reya is a London-based international law firm.
“In the letter, Taib’s lawyers asked the BBC not to cover the book on Taib’s environmental crimes in their broadcasts.”
The lawyers’ request was not supported by any evidence as to why the interview should not be broadcast, save for claims that the book was “full of errors”.
Money Logging: On the Trail of the Asian TImber Mafia contains allegations that Abdul Taib, during his 33-year tenure as Sarawak Chief Minister, hoarded illegal gains of up to USD15 billion (RM53.51 billion) while global financial institutions turned a blind eye.
Taib’s legal representatives had also previously attempted to block the sale of the book.
A separate report by the BMF, entitled The Taib Timber Mafia: Facts and Figures on Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) from Sarawak, Malaysia, is available as a PDF download on Stop-Timber-Corruption.org.
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