06/05/2011 (The Star) - IOI Corp Bhd has been given an extension to May 25 by the Roundtable On Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Grievance Panel to respond to the land disputes and illegal deforestation allegations by Migros, Friends of the Earth and Grassroots as well as the local community of Long Teran Kanan in Sarawak.

The extended timeline was to consider the feedback from the complainants to assess whether the proposal would indeed resolve the issues, said RSPO on its website posting on Wednesday.

RSPO will also assess and review the content of IOI’s proposal, and request for modifications from IOI where necessary. IOI submitted a detailed proposal on April 29.

RSPO had initially given IOI to May 2 to deliver a proposal to resolve the outstanding issues for breaching “two core membership mandates and obligations” on land conflict and conversion of high conservation forest into oil palm plantation based on the said allegations. Failing to do so, RSPO would consider further sanctions on IOI, such as suspension of licence on new certified sustainable palm oil, including GreenPalm certificates.

Meanwhile, IOI clarified that steps had been taken to handle the grievances filed with RSPO.

“IOI in October last year invited SGS, an RSPO-certified auditor, to investigate the allegations by Friends of the Earth and other NGOs about our conduct on estates in Ketapang, West Kalimantan,” the company said on its website yesterday.

The conclusions of SGS, finding the allegations unfounded, have been submitted to RSPO.

In the same transparent manner, an RSPO-certified auditor, Moody’s International, was currently finalising its report after investigating allegations on IOI’s conduct in Sarawak. This report will also be submitted to RSPO and published.

“As part of our continued efforts to settle the NCR land claim dispute with the local community neighbouring the IOI Pelita estate, the company has invited the local community to find an amicable solution soon, in the presence of an independent observer.

“IOI has also sought the involvement of RSPO in this meeting to enable RSPO to have a direct and objective view of the steps taken in this matter,” it added.