Kampar MP Thomas Su today lodged a report with the Perak MACC on the approval for a permit given to a company for a 400ha forest plantation development project in two locations in the state.

Su said there was some doubt over how a new five-month-old company could obtain approval for a permit to develop the project in the two locations – the Kledang Saiong Forest Reserve and the Bukit Kinta Forest Reserve in Kinta Manjung.

“This is not right. We want to know when the company applied for the land, because it was set up on July 26, 2018, and obtained the permit on Dec 14 the same year.

“Why was the permit approved for this company and not to another company?” he asked after lodging his report at the MACC office in Ipoh today, accompanied by members of Peka, an NGO advocating for the protection of Malaysian forests.

Last Friday, a letter went viral on the social media which alleged that the Perak government, through a Perak Forest Resources Committee meeting in November 2018, had approved the permit for the forest plantation project to a company.

Last Saturday, Menteri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu said the state government would check the validity of the permit approval letter for the forest plantation development project.

Faizal said he was not aware of the actual situation regarding the status of the permit dated Dec 14.

“I do not know head or tail, so I cannot comment. I have to check with the Land and Mines Office and the Forestry Office first,” he said.