Professor Jeffrey D Sachs, a sustainability advocate, has told a US news portal that he is no way involved in the public relations of Malaysian oil palm giant Sime Darby.

NONE "Absolutely nothing is going on here. I am in no way, shape or form a representative of any company, including Sime Darby," he was quoted as saying by Ben Smith, a political writer with US-based Politico , in an article published yesterday.

Last Saturday, whistleblower website Sarawak Report claimed that Sime Darby, through UK-based public relations company FBC Media Ltd, had embarked on a campaign to "court and seduce" Sachs (left) , one of the world’s most celebrated economists, into becoming an "ambassador" for the company.

According to Politico , Sachs said he has neither worked for Sime Darby nor received payment from it.

"Interesting story regarding what they might have wanted (I have no idea if it’s accurate), but I don’t work for them or any other company. I do not receive (nor have I ever sought) a penny from them," Sachs writes in reply.

The special adviser to the UN Secretary-General and former director of the UN Millennium Project admitted that he had visited Sime Darby's plantation once for few hours at its invitation, noting that he has an honorary professorship at Universiti Malaya.

Sarawak Report also alleged that Sime Darby had provided a half-million dollar donation to support  Columbia University's prestigious Earth Institute, which is helmed by the economist.

Sachs clarified that the money was not a donation, but for a scientific programme designed to advise the conglomerate on designing sustainability programmes.

"I agreed with Sime Darby officials that the Earth Institute would help them, if they sought help, to design a science-based, ecologically sound programme for sustainable palm oil under the framework of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.

"It seems that not much has come of this. I have had no contact whatsoever with the company for probably more than one year, perhaps two years, except perhaps one of their representatives being on a group phone call with the Earth Institute.

"They are part of a group of companies that participate in a quarterly phone conference call with the Earth Institute regarding global sustainability challenges. This is a one- to two-hour quarterly briefing on global scientific and policy developments," Sachs is quoted by Politico .

Institute to 'review' links

Politico also reported that Erin Trowbridge, the Institute's director of communications, has emailed Sarawak Report to clarify some issues and address inaccuracies in its article, reiterating the same points made by Sachs.

azlan Asked if Earth Institute would drop Sime Darby from its Corporate Circle - a recognition of Sime Darby's commitment to sustainable development - in view of the Sarawak Report article, Trowbridge replied that a review was in order.

"We saw the article on Saturday and it raises very serious issues... Sime Darby came to us declaring their desire to pursue a new agenda on sustainable development and asking for our scientific help in designing those policies.

"We hope that is real. The article of course will lead us to re-examine this relationship, and see if it was indeed driven by public relations considerations.

"Since the article contains many incorrect comments about Sachs, we will do our own due diligence, and not take decisions based on a news article," Trowbridge added.

In a reply to Malaysiakini , Sime Darby had also trashed the allegations, insisting that it had not elicited favourable comments from Sachs.

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