STA chairman Datuk Wong Kie Yik reportedly said that the move had crippled daily operations of member companies that were not involved in timber trade.
“This has put affected companies in dire situations of not being able to pay their contractors, sub-contractors, suppliers and their employees when the Gawai Dayak festival is just around the corner,” Wong reportedly said in a statement.
Wong said the methods used for anti-illegal logging by MACC this time were “unreasonable” and “without compassion”.
Wong also said that the companies now run the risk of breaking the law as they would be unable to pay the Employers Provident Fund (EPF) and even the goods and services tax (GST).
Soppoa described the move as “grossly unfair” as some company accounts were frozen for merely having common directorship.
Who are they to talk of lack of compassion?
The timber companies have moved in and destroyed people’s lands and livelihoods. They have taken trees they ought not to have done, in areas they had no licence.
Their gangsters have beaten and threatened those who stood up to them – and worse.
They have wilfully and systematically bribed forestry officials to allow their plunder and they have ruined the land and rivers through their logging of steep slopes and careless methods.
They have failed to pay their taxes and lied about their profits, thereby giving virtually nothing back to the people.
Of course, this was all sponsored and abetted by the present Governor of the State – the MACC should start at the top and work down, not the other way around.