Kitingan seeks to discredit Al Jazeera carbon trading exposé

Sabah deputy chief minister Jeffrey Kitingan has attempted to discredit an Al Jazeera report critical of him and the state government's controversial carbon trading deal.

He has also threatened to take legal action against the international media company and others for supposedly "defaming" him.

In a statement yesterday, Kitingan (above), who is also Sabah's agriculture and fisheries minister, appeared to know who the unnamed "whistleblower" in the article was and disputed the person's credibility.

He also trained his guns on former senator and opposition politician Adrian Lasimbang, who was quoted in the article.

"Clearly, both Al Jazeera and Lasimbang formed their opinions on the topic based on lies and falsehood fed to them by an individual whose motive is to gain political mileage and instigate the indigenous communities by defaming me," Kitingan claimed.

Elaborating, Kitingan alleged that this whistleblower was "hell-bent to discredit the deal and even set up his own group to take over the deal".

"I am considering legal action against Al Jazeera and Lasimbang and others who are actively disseminating false information to the public, particularly those that are defaming my name," he added.

Entitled "Very hush-hush: Borneo's $80bn carbon deal stokes controversy", the Al Jazeera article exposed the individuals allegedly involved in the Sabah government's Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA).

It also noted that the Singaporean firm involved - Hoch Standard Private Limited - was a "shell company" owned by a firm in the British Virgin Islands with a paid-up capital of US$1,000.

Kitingan had previously claimed that the firm was backed by Singapore government-owned Temasek Holdings Limited and valued at US$10 million.

In the article, he admitted to his mistake that Hoch Standard was not funded by Temasek Holdings but maintained that it was backed by unnamed "big funding agencies".

Won't cancel NCA

Inked on Oct 30 last year, the NCA involves giving 30 percent of Sabah's carbon credit sales revenue to Hoch Standard while the Sabah government keeps 70 percent.

The 100-year deal applies to two million hectares of forest. This is equivalent to the size of 2.8 million football fields.

The government did not announce the signing of the deal. It only became public knowledge in early November 2021 when environmental news website Mongabay published an article on it.

In another statement, Kitingan claimed that former Sabah chief minister Shafie Apdal had worked on the "same carbon deal" when the latter was in power.

"In reality, when Shafie was chief minister, he was working on the same carbon deal but was unable to finish it because Warisan lost the (September 2020) election.

"Warisan even organised a seminar on the subject. It was officiated by Shafie's then deputy chief minister Wilfred Madius Tangau," he said.

During a Sabah legislative session on Dec 8, 2021, Shafie told the house that he had turned down the carbon trading deal and did not bring the matter to the Sabah cabinet.

Elaborating, Kitingan said the former Warisan government had negotiated a 51:49 deal while the present Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) administration had managed to secure a 70:30 deal with Hoch Standard.

"Given the much better deal on the table, it would be unthinkable for the GRS government to cancel or stop the NCA as suggested by Shafie.

"Cancelling the agreement will waste months of hard work and delay our plans for Sabah," he added.

Jeffrey misled assembly

Meanwhile, Warisan's Merotai assemblyperson Sarifuddin Hatta has demanded an explanation from Kitingan over the Al Jazeera exposé.

"I was there at the sitting of the Sabah Assembly in December and witnessed Kitingan saying (Hoch Standard has a) paid-up capital is US$10 million.

"Kitingan must explain why he failed to tell the truth in the assembly instead of misleading the house and the people by claiming the company had US$10 million as paid-up capital," the opposition lawmaker said in a statement.

Sarifuddin echoed Shafie in urging chief minister Hajiji Mohd Nor to cancel the NCA deal.

"There has been no clear statement so far, and I'm wondering if the state cabinet is complicit in the deal.

"Cancelling the agreement is the noble and right thing to do for Sabahans. Not just today but for many generations to come," he said.

Opposition party Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) similarly pressed the government for more answers.

Its vice-president, Shahrizal Denci, asked how and why Hoch Standard was appointed for the NCA, plus whether local communities were consulted before the deal was signed.

He further questioned Kitingan if he would withdraw support from GRS if the NCA was cancelled.

"Sabah Muda fully supports the carbon credit business because it can be a source of revenue for Sabah. But it is better if this business is handled in a transparent manner by a local company so that the proceeds can be enjoyed by the Sabahan people," Shahrizal said in a statement.