Allegations that Malaysia is at the centre of illegal trade in Indonesian ramin have been strongly refuted by the Malaysian Timber Council‘s (MTC) London office.

MTC director SK Tham described the allegations made by the Environmental Investigation Agency and Telepak as “grossly exaggerated”.

Their report was published on the eve of the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Mr Tham said that while Malaysia could not deny that smuggling went on, it was doing its best to stop it. He added: “The NGOs should recognise that we are making some progress.”

&#8220The NGOs should recognise that we are making some progress”

SK Tham, director Malaysian Timber Council, London.

The report claimed that some Malaysian traders and officials profit from selling smuggled Indonesian ramin described as being of Malaysian origin. Environmentalists say the scale of the smuggling represents more than double the amount of ramin that Malaysia can produce itself each year.

Tom Roche of Tullamore-based Just Forests is among the growing band of protestors to illegal logging. He has called on Ireland’s foreign affairs minister Brian Cowen to do all in his power to ensure Ireland stops importing illegally logged timber from Malaysia.