translation A senior government minister has been accused of alleged abuse of power during his tenure as Pahang mentri besar by giving out logging concessions without following regulations as laid out by the National Forestry Policy.

A police report against Information Minister Khalil Yaakob was lodged by Umno state assembly representative for Beserah Fauzi Abdul Rahman last evening in Kuantan.

According to sources, the report stated that while serving as the mentri besar, Khalil, who also served concurrently as a member of the National Forestry Council, agreed that Pahang could, according to a yearly quota, only log approximately 28,000 acres of land.

However, the quota was flouted by the mentri besar, the police report said.

When contacted today, officials at the Kuantan police station refused to comment on the report.

"I cannot confirm whether Fauzi himself lodged the report or if the report was lodged by someone else," said a police officer, who did not wished to be identified.

Another officer, believed to the investigating officer, refused to comment as well when contacted by malaysiakini .

Cash flow jeopardised

Fauzi, a former deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department, was said to have mentioned in his report that Khalil "jeopardised the financial resources and cash flow" of the present Pahang state government.

Last year, opposition state assembly representatives contended that the amount of logging premiums paid to the state government was in fact too low when compared against the size of timber areas approved.

Adnan Yaakob, Khalil's successor, was reported as saying that the low payments were made before he assumed the mantle of leadership in Pahang.

While tabling the 2000 budget, Adnan said that timber provided the highest revenue for the state. The sector had contributed to approximately 30 percent of the state's revenue or RM99.81 million from a total of RM334.78 million.

The Pahang government also intended last year to carry out an open-tender policy in the bid to raise logging revenues as opposed to the past policy based on concessions.

The PAS-controlled Terengganu state government believed that it could multiply its logging revenues eight-fold by adopting the open-tender method, in comparison with the concessional negotiation method as practised by the past Umno administration.

Umno's dilemma

According to a source close to Umno Kuantan, these developments were spurred by the division's internal crisis during the present elections at the party's branch and division levels.

Malaysiakini was informed that Fauzi, who was close to former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, found great difficulty in defending his position as division chief ever since the Umno crisis following Anwar's dismissal.

Khalil led the state in 1986 and was transferred to his present ministerial post in 1999. Before that he served as the state assembly representative for Lepar.

In the 1999 general elections, he beat Keadilan candidate Fuziah Salleh by a majority of 7,361 votes.

Fauzi, on the other hand, was moved from his Kuantan parliamentary seat to the state seat of Berserah. He beat PAS candidate Mohd Yusof Ibrahim by a 985 majority.

Khalil was also elected as Umno secretary-general in the middle of 1999, taking over from former culture, arts and tourism minister Sabaruddin Chik.