A judge in Papua New Guinea has has told off Malaysian-owned logging company Rimbunan Hijau PNG Ltd for abusing the court system in order to harass and threaten a local newspaper from reporting on the logging giant’s activities in the country.

rimbunan hijau human rights abuse in papua new guinea 02 According to a July 13 ABC news report, Judge Ambeng Kandakasi threw out the company’s defamation suit and other motions against the Post-Courier .

Four years ago the logging firm filed a defamation suit against the Papua New Guinean daily after it reprinted an Australian newspaper report headlined ‘The Rape of PNG Forest’.

Several other legal actions followed suit.

In his judgment Kandakasi awarded the newspaper costs against Rimbunan Hijau and three related companies.

The judge ruled that the company had used the proceeding to “threaten, intimidate and harass” the newspaper and cause it to waste unnecessary time and money.

azlan The national court judge added that the case was “an abuse of the court process”.

He also ordered one of the logging firm’s lawyers, Michael Wilson, to be investigated for alleged perjury, following conflicting affidavits filed by the lawyer.

According to the ABC report, Wilson has denied any wrongdoing, while Rimbunan Hijau has not commented on the decision.

ABC also noted that Rimbunan Hijau-owned local newspaper The National did not report on the decision.