Five Singapore-registered firms agree to engage haze assessors
The planned company-funded assessments would examine operations, corporate relationships and supply chains for possible links to Indonesian fires.
Singapore’s National Environment Agency said in its 31 October statement that Wilmar International, Golden Agri-Resources, two APP entities and Indofood Agri Resources had agreed to engage assessors and cooperate with its cross-border haze assessment process.
NEA named Wilmar International Limited, Golden Agri-Resources Limited, APP Company Ltd, APP Company (China) Ltd and Indofood Agri Resources Limited as the five companies that had agreed to engage assessors. The agency said it had met representatives of all five.
Kencana Agri was at a different stage: it had expressed willingness to engage assessors voluntarily, and NEA said it would meet the company. First Resources had said it was prepared to engage an investigations firm and a law firm; NEA was awaiting written confirmation of its participation.
What the planned assessments would examine
The Ministry of Law and NEA’s 30 October framework sets out the intended next steps. Identified companies have been asked to engage a team selected by NEA, comprising an investigations firm and a law firm or legal adviser. The planned remit covers company operations, corporate relationships and supply chains.
Companies would bear the assessment costs. The assessors would submit evaluation reports to NEA, which would consider the findings when deciding whether further action is warranted. Davinder Singh Chambers, appointed as adviser, would coordinate the panel firms’ work so the reports address the evidence NEA needs.
That remit reaches beyond the location of a concession to the businesses and relationships connected to it. For the affected groups, the planned review would require information about how their operations and supply chains fit together across borders.
The government said on 30 October that it intended to table amendments to the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act at the next Parliamentary sitting to give legal force to the assessment framework.
NEA describes the voluntary assessments as fact-finding to establish whether companies have any involvement in, or connection with, Indonesian fires that caused or contributed to haze affecting Singapore. Agreements to engage assessors are the participation step; the evidence and any findings would come through the assessment process.
