Excellent post Olivier Pollet Here comes a company, which should, at the very least, raise a few eyebrows for its proposed investment in the Pacific (at Malahang in Lae in PNG and in the Solomon Islands). PNG: undercurrentnews/2013/02/27/papua-new-guinea-enjoys-fishery-investment/ Solomon islands: undercurrentnews/2013/06/17/dongwon-plans-250m-plant-in-solomon-islands/#.UdDUkz78-XQ In PNG, the company has sent an application to the NFA for a 200mt plant. oxfordbusinessgroup/economic_updates/downstream-projects-bode-well-papua-new-guinea%E2%80%99s-fisheries-industry For years, the behaviour of the South Korean company Dongwon (the owners of Starkist in Samoa) has attracted strong criticism from groups like Greenpeace for its worldwide unsustainable fishing practices, but let’s look at the hard facts, especially in light of the latest revelations. In 2011, and 2012, the Liberian government accused the company of fishing illegally with a fake license in their waters. To counter this, Dongwon allegedly went as far as forging official Liberian government papers for “the Korean Government implying that the allegation of illegal fishing was a misunderstanding. The same letter was also sent to African governments to obtain new fishing licenses for the same vessel.” fis-net/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?monthyear=3-2013&day=19&id=59552&l=e&country=97&special=&ndb=1&df=0 A report from August 2013 by Greenpeace indicates that it led to a 2 Millions $US settlement, but that the company was also facing criminal proceedings in Senegal for the acquisition of a cannery. We also learn that it is under a Korean investigation for tax evasion. greenpeace.org/korea/Global/korea/publications/reports/oceans/2013/aug-2013-dongwon-finance-report-eng.pdf Meanwhile, as strange as it might seem, the chairman of the group was able to receive a nice award (Order of Merit) from the government of Senegal, in April 2013: dwml.co.kr/board/view.asp?id=3&code=noticefisheng&cate=&start=0&category=&word=&viewType=board Now come February 2014, and the story gets even better. The company is now accused of defrauding the US government and violating the False Claims Act! “The legal complaint states that a former Dongwon executive used his daughters’ acquired US citizenships to establish “paper companies” - companies with no operations that exist exclusively for a financial reason - in the state of Delaware under their names. Yet at all times, the “paper companies” were allegedly controlled by Dongwon Industries. The whistleblower claims that the aim was to obtain US vessel documentation for Korean-owned tuna purse seine ships, which then allowed Dongwon to obtain fishing licenses reserved only to US registered vessels under the South Pacific Tuna Treaty. US taxpayers pay $18 million per year for these licences, which are meant to ensure the US fishing industry gets its share of the catch. Dongwon is even alleged to have created the American-sounding pseudonym “William Phil,” a fictitious person that purported to be a manager when corresponding with US government officials. Furthermore, the lawsuit also cited Dongwons failure to report oil discharge and dumping at sea with the intent to avoid or decrease civil penalties for such illegal acts – a possible violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. If found guilty, Dongwon could face incidental, civil, and treble (triple) damages for each violation.” thefishsite/fishnews/22433/south-korean-tuna-company-charged-with-defrauding-us-government By any means, the PNG and Solomon Islands government should be very careful when considering their applications.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Jun 2014 00:00:22 +0000
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