KOTA KINABALU – A coalition of Sabah’s civil society organisations has launched a judicial review over the controversial Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA) to ascertain whether the Sabah government followed the relevant laws and procedures during its approval.
This comes in response to Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor saying the state government remains keen to pursue carbon trading.
“The decision to disregard the state attorney-general’s input and proceed regardless only serves to deepen our worries that Sabah’s common heritage is being handed over to private interests without proper adherence to procedures and accountability,” said Land Empowerment Animals People (LEAP) chief Cynthia Ong.
“This concern for proper governance is why Sabah’s civil society organisations are now initiating a judicial review to determine if the Sabah government complied with the relevant laws and procedures in the approval of the NCA,” she added.
The civil society coalition remains disturbed that such a significant contract was allegedly awarded secretly to a new entity in a foreign country – an entity allegedly without any proven track record or demonstrated expertise in carbon trading or managing natural capital.
Sabah Environmental Protection Association’s Alexander Yee said the judicial review will focus on determining whether the Sabah government conducted the required due diligence before or after signing the contract.
The NCA has been a subject of controversy and aims to grant exclusive rights to over two million hectares of Sabah’s natural heritage for a period of 100 years, with the possibility of renewal, including for carbon trading.
The Singaporean company, Hoch Standard Pte Ltd, which signed the NCA, is officially listed as wholly owned by a new entity named Lionsgate Ltd in the British Virgin Islands. However, the actual owners of Lionsgate are undisclosed.
Consequently, civil society has taken the initiative to conduct its own due diligence to identify the beneficial owner/s of the NCA in the British Virgin Islands.
“Sabahans have the right to know who holds these exceptional financial rights over our natural heritage and whether there are any conflicts of interest between them and the NCA’s state government proponents,” said Yee. – The Vibes, August 2, 2023
