Guyana has fined a Malaysian timber company more than 530,000 dollars for allegedly under-reporting the number of logs it bought from Guyanese firms, officials said Tuesday.

The Guyanese government said forestry regulators had uncovered the alleged false reporting by Barama Company Limited. The Malaysian-owned firm has been operating in the northwestern Amazon jungle of the impoverished South American country for more than 20 years.

"They (BCL) entered into arrangements with other concession-holders and the products that came from those were under-declared," Jaime Hall, a spokesman for the Guyana Forestry Commission, told AFP.

The forestry commission said in a statement that two of its field officers who were stationed in the jungle area were dismissed because they had contributed to the alleged breaches.

Hall said the regulator had detected alleged irregularities that led to the uncovering of the alleged large-scale breaches involving three concessions.

Barama's managing director, Peter Ho, refused to immediately comment on the allegations and the penalties. He said the company would issue a statement soon.