U.S. NGO FACES LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Sime Plantation seeking critical information from Liberty Shared
SIME Darby Plantation Bhd (Sime Plantation) has fought back against a United States-based nongovernmental organisation (NGO) that claimed the planter was using forced labour in its Malaysian estates.
The planter said it had on Tuesday commenced legal proceedings for discovery of critical information against Liberty Shared managing director Duncan Jepson in Virginia.
This is the first time in Sime Plantation’s 200-year history that it has resorted to legal action against an NGO.
The proceedings were to obtain important information pertaining to a complaint filed by Jepson with the Securities Commission (SC), in which he alleged wrongful disclosures in the company’s Sustainability Report 2019, said Sime Plantation in a statement yesterday.
“Jepson is and was at all material times the managing director of Liberty Shared. The SC commenced investigations into Jepson’s complaint and accordingly sought additional information from Sime Plantation.
“As a responsible corporate citizen listed on the Malaysian bourse, the company will cooperate fully with the SC. Thus, it is
vitally important that Sime Plantation is able to obtain limited but critical information from the complaint filed by Jepson,” it added.
Liberty Shared had filed a complaint with the US Customs and Border Protection on April 20 last year alleging the use of forced labour in Sime Plantation’s Malaysian estates.
The planter was made aware of the complaint on July 7 last year after Liberty Shared issued a summary of the complaint on its website.
“This summary did not contain sufficient information to allow
Sime Plantation to close any alleged gaps in our operations, which would have naturally benefited our workforce.
“It saddens us greatly that despite several direct and indirect engagements, Jepson continues to withhold vital information that could have helped the very workers he claims to champion.”
Sime Plantation added that it had appointed PwC Singapore in October last year, on Jepson’s request, to share with it the information necessary to address the alleged issues found in its plantations.
“Subsequently, PwC Singapore
appointed yet another individual who works closely with Jepson and Liberty Shared, again on Jepson’s request. Neither PwC Singapore nor the individual have been able to share the material information needed to address any issues that may exist in our plantations,” it said.
Sime Plantation said Jepson had also expressed his view that the appointment of NGOs to assist the company would not be ideal as, in his opinion, “social compliance specialists will not be able to offer an honest assessment of corporate governance and internal controls”.