Seven-member panel set to assess Singapore firms linked to transboundary haze
NEA’s panel will assess 10 companies’ operations and supply chains. Wilmar says it will engage firms from the group.
The cost and scope of assessing 10 companies’ possible links to transboundary haze are taking shape: each company is to engage an investigation firm and a legal adviser from a newly named seven-member specialist panel, and pay for the work itself. The findings will give Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) material to consider when deciding whether further action is warranted.
The panel brings together investigation specialists Control Risks Group, FTI Consulting (Singapore) and Kroll Singapore, alongside Dentons Rodyk & Davidson, TSMP Law Corporation, WongPartnership and arbitrator Toby Landau KC of Duxton Hill Chambers. The Ministry of Law and NEA said the members cover forensic investigations, financial analysis, corporate intelligence, risk advisory and legal services.
The arrangement puts professional assessments at the centre of the inquiry. NEA will select a team for each company, comprising an investigation firm and a law firm or legal adviser from the panel. Those assessors are expected to examine the company’s operations, corporate relationships and supply chains, then submit an evaluation report to the agency.
Ten companies are in scope
The companies identified are Asia Pulp & Paper Company; Asia Pulp & Paper Company (China); Bumitama Agri; Golden Agri International; First Resources; Indofood Agri Resources; Kencana Agri; TSH Global Plantation; TSH Overseas; and Wilmar International. NEA issued notices to them on Oct 23 seeking information about their operations and potential links to the haze. The companies are required to engage professionals from the panel.
For the companies, the process means commissioning outside scrutiny of business structures and supply chains, with the expense falling on the companies themselves. For NEA, the reports are intended to inform its assessment. The source does not specify a timetable for the work or explain how the agency will compare assessments across companies.
That leaves important details to be established through the process: what information assessors can obtain, how they will evaluate relationships across corporate groups and supply chains, and whether additional expertise will be needed. Senior Minister K Shanmugam has previously said assessors may need help from third parties or specialists, including geospatial analysts who can work with satellite hotspot data.
Coordination and company participation
Davinder Singh Chambers has been appointed to coordinate the panel members’ work. Senior counsel Davinder Singh will provide specialist advice and guidance on the inquiries. The authorities said the firm’s coordinating role is to help ensure that evaluation reports address the relevant issues and give NEA the information and evidence needed for its assessment.
That coordinating function matters because the panel combines firms with different areas of expertise, while each company will receive its own assessment team. Consistent reporting could help NEA review the cases against a shared set of questions; the published information, however, does not set out a common methodology or say what form the reports will take.
Wilmar International said in a Thursday evening bourse filing, issued before the panel members were named, that it had informed NEA it would engage an investigation firm and a law firm from the panel. Wilmar and the other identified companies were represented at a closed-door meeting on Wednesday attended by Shanmugam, Singh, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong and Sustainability and the Environment Minister Grace Fu.
The specialist panel was first announced on Oct 23. The inquiry is focused on companies’ operations, corporate ties and supply chains, making the work broader than a review of any single site or business activity. The panel members’ expertise suggests that assessments may draw on financial records, corporate intelligence and investigative work alongside legal analysis.
Singapore has experienced the transboundary haze for the longest continuous stretch since the 2015 haze crisis, according to the source. That context raises the stakes for determining whether company activities are connected to the haze, while the assessments themselves will not settle the question until NEA has reviewed the evidence.
The next concrete markers are the selection of assessors for each company, the information gathered in the reviews and the reports delivered to NEA. Wilmar has confirmed its intention to participate by engaging firms from the panel; the source does not say whether the other companies have made the same commitment. NEA’s assessment of the reports will determine what follows.
