Berliner Tageblatt - Singapore widens haze probe to local firms linked to Indonesian fires

The city-state has beefed up measures to combat the months-long blazes and had vowed legal action against companies responsible for the fires that have made regional air quality among the world's worst.

Over the past week, Singapore issued notices to 10 foreign-based companies, insisting that they deploy fire fighting teams, stop burning or starting new fires in Indonesia and submit information about their links with associated companies in Indonesia and Singapore.

The information is to be reviewed by Singapore's National Environmental Agency (NEA).

In addition to these companies, the NEA is seeking information from 10 Singapore-registered firms in the palm oil or forestry industry who are involved with Indonesian land, the environmental agency said in a statement late Friday.

The information relates to "linkages with associated companies in Singapore and Indonesia, the location of land concessions owned by them as well as fire preventative measures or firefighting efforts", the statement said.

Singapore also said it would form a panel of experts comprising law firms, audit firms and investigative firms with expertise in conducting cross-border inquiries and investigations to help with its probe.

Indonesia experiences fires regularly during its dry season, and experts say years of deforestation and the draining of peatland for cultivation have rendered previously fire-resistant landscapes vulnerable.

Driven by a strong El Nino cycle and resulting drought, this year's blazes have been particularly severe, burning through nearly two million hectares, according to deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas.

The fires have raged across forests and peatland, as well as palm oil and timber plantations supplying multinational firms.

Civil society groups have regularly accused companies of responsibility for the blazes, pointing to so-called "hotspots" in supplier plantations, sometimes called concessions.

Several companies implicated have insisted they are not behind the fires, including Singapore Exchange-listed First Resources and Singapore-registered Asia Pulp and Paper. Both are named by the NEA in the latest update on Singapore's probe.

Kuala Lumpur and Singapore again ranked within the world's top 10 most polluted major cities late Friday, according to Swiss-based air monitor IQAir.

jhe/lga

B.Shevchenko--BTB