BRUNO MANSER FUND, BASEL,
SWITZERLAND
23rd August 2012 – for immediate
release
Roy Adair, CEO of Hydro Tasmania, confirms company's involvement in
controversial Malaysian rainforest dam constructions – Hydro Tasmania downplays
compliance deficits of Sarawak Energy, its Malaysian business partner
(HOBART, TASMANIA) Roy Adair, the CEO
of Australian state-owned energy provider Hydro Tasmania, said yesterday his
company had no audits in place to prevent Hydro Tasmania’s participation in projects
that involve corruption.
In an interview with the Australian
ABC Radio, Adair admitted that only general “pre-bid checks” were done on Sarawak
Energy, a Malaysian dam builder and business partner, prior to Hydro Tasmania’s
engagement in a “100 billion dollar” energy project in Sarawak. He said that
“not so much auditing” on potential corrupt practices of Sarawak Energy had
been done.
Sarawak Energy is owned by the Malaysian
state of Sarawak and chaired by Hamed Sepawi, a cousin and close business
associate of long-term Sarawak Chief Minister, Taib Mahmud (“Taib”). Taib is
currently under investigation by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission
(MACC) for corruption and abuse of public office. Taib’s last major energy
project, the 2,400 MW Bakun mega-dam, had been labelled by Transparency
International as a “monument of corruption”.
In an attempt to downplay Hydro
Tasmania’s involvement in Sarawak’s dam building spree, Adair said his company role
was “relatively minimal” as it was only earning 3 million dollars from its
Sarawak business. However, Adair failed to acknowledge the central role plaid
by Hydro Tasmania engineers such as Andrew Pattle. The latter has been the Project
Director of the 944 MW Murum dam, which is currently under construction, and has
been appointed as the Senior Project Manager for another two proposed dams,
Baram (1,200 MW) and Baleh (1,400 MW). Last year, Pattle said that “safety and
environmental compliance” were “not given much importance” with dam-building in
Malaysia.
The Sarawak dam building spree has
drawn heavy criticism from indigenous associations and environmental
organizations. The Baram dam alone would displace 20’000 Sarawak natives and
flood over 400km2 of tropical rainforests. Yesterday, the Tasmanian Greens
called on the Tasmanian Minister for Energy “to recall all
of its employees currently involved in environmentally and socially destructive
dam building practices in Malaysia.“
Without the expertise of foreign
consultants such as Hydro Tasmania, Sarawak Energy would not be in a position
to realize its controversial dam plans.
– Ends –
