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Auditor Nyatakan Sinar Mas Manipulasi Hasil Audit

 

Jakarta, Indonesia, 19 Agustus 2010: Sinar Mas harus menghadapi fakta memalukan setelah auditor independen yang mereka tunjuk hari ini mengeluarkan pernyataan bahwa Sinar Mas dengan sengaja menyalah artikan hasil audit dan kemudian mempresentasikan hasil yang salah itu kepada masyarakat Auditor itu juga membenarkan bahwa Sinar Mas melanggar hukum dengan melakukan pembukaan di lahan gambut dalam, serta menghancurkan hutan tanpa izin yang diperlukan. (1) Auditor itu juga menuntut klarifikasi dari mereka dicantumkan di situs Sinar Mas.

 

Statemen yang dipublikasikan di situs BSI Group hari ini, juga memperlihatkan pernyataan-pernyataan perusahaan itu, termasuk yang dibuat di Bursa Saham Singapura, menyesatkan para pemegang saham dan konsumen mereka. Greenpeace telah menyurati bursa saham meminta Golden Agri Resources, induk perusahaan SMART, diinvestigasi karena memberikan informasi menyesatkan secara sengaja.

 

“Fakta hari ini menunjukkan bahwa Sinar Mas terbukti memanipulasi hasil audit untuk mencoba meyakinkan pemegang saham dan pelanggan bahwa mereka adalah perusahaan yang bertanggung jawab dan taat hukum. Sekarang kebenaran akhirnya menang. Audit memperlihatkan Sinar Mas secara terus menerus melanggar hukum Indonesia, aturan RSPO dan komitmen mereka sendiri, dan menyembunyikannya lewat manipulasi informasi,” ujar Bustar Maitar, Team Leader Kampanye Hutan Greenpeace Asia Tenggara.

 

Pernyataan hari ini memperlihatkan bagaimana SMART, divisi minyak kelapa sawit Sinar Mas Grup, secara salah mengklaim bahwa ‘mereka sudah beroperasi sesuai hukum dan secara bertanggung jawab (2). Padahal hasil audit menyatakan bahwa delapan dari 11 perusahaan mereka yang diaudit, terbukti melakukan perusakan hutan tanpa izin lingkungan (AMDAL) yang diperlukan (3). Dan kedalaman lahan gambut yang dihancurkan juga melanggar hukum Indonesia (4). Lebih jauh lagi, auditor mengakui --berbeda dengan klaim Sinar Mas—bahwa dalam laporan Greenpeace tidak pernah mengatakan bahwa Sinar Mas menghancurkan hutan primer. (5)

Jakarta, Indonesia, 19th August 2010 – Sinar Mas has been forced into a humiliating back down as its independent auditors published a statement on their website saying that the audit had been misreported as it has been published and presented. The auditor’s statement reconfirmed that Sinar Mas has been operating in breach of Indonesian law by clearing deep peat, and forests without the required permits. The statement vindicates Greenpeace’s claims that the group is destroying rainforests and peatlands. (1) The auditors have also demanded that their clarification is published on the Sinar Mas website. 

The statement shows how SMART, the Sinar Mas group’s Indonesian palm oil arm, wrongly claimed that they ‘operate responsibly and within the laws.’ (2) It confirms that in eight out of 11 concessions audited, forest clearance was conducted without the necessary environmental permits (3). Furthermore deep peat forest was cleared in breach of Indonesian law. (4) The auditors also acknowledge that despite claims by Sinar Mas to the contrary, in defence of their operations, ‘Greenpeace reports had not stated that the Sinar Mas group destroyed primary forests’. (5) 

The audit also clearly shows that Sinar Mas has been engaged in widespread forest clearance without independent high conservation value assessments, in breach of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) rules. (6)

Greenpeace has repeatedly shown that Sinar Mas is destroying carbon-rich peatland and Indonesia’s last remaining rainforests, including orang-utan habitat, often violating Indonesian law, RSPO rules and Sinar Mas’s own sustainability commitments (7).

“Sinar Mas has no credibility and Greenpeace continues to call on its customers to stop trading with it until it stops all peatland and forest destruction. Using smoke and mirrors and pretending be a responsible company is nothing more than greenwash,” said Maitar. 

“Not only does Sinar Mas need to backtrack on its false claims about Greenpeace reports, but this statement confirms that it broke Indonesian law and cleared many forest areas before assessing their conservation value, including potential orang-utan habitat.”

Corporate consumers, including Cargill, must follow Nestle, Kraft and Unilever, and stop supporting rainforest and peatland destruction by removing Sinar Mas's products from their shelves and supply chains. The Indonesian Government must stop groups like Sinar Mas wrecking forests and driving climate change by ensuring the proposed moratorium includes a halt to all forest clearance, including within existing concessions, and ensure immediate protection of all peat lands.