Save The Rainforest Companies

[Dave Spart]

HPCers maybe aware of some rather trying circumstances I had to endure 2005/2006. Recently I was recalling the minutiae of certain events and had what I can only call a revelation.

To cut a long story short, in 2006 I had the misfortune to become acquainted by necessity with an Aussie expat businessman running various businesses in Indonesia.

Among other things this guy was running a local business that he stated offered concerned and ethical investors from around the world, both private and corporate, the chance to invest in and conserve Indonesia's natural rainforest. Besides a clear conscience and the ethical dimension, the financial incentive for investors, he said, was the resulting carbon credits. He explained that he had opened a very welcoming friendly office in one of Indonesia's famous international tourist resorts in an attempt to encourage tourists to invest.

Circumstances during 2005/2006 we so trying for me that I had to put these memories to the back of mind until I could deal with them. Recently I have done some more searching on the individual in question. In April this year I found an article on the internet confirming that this chap is indeed running a business in Indonesia with an environmental theme. However what I didn't twig in April is that this business is not the same as the one he mentioned in 2006. So what? Big deal? I hear you say.

Well, what is worrying is that the business he mentioned in 2006 claims to save the rainforest, yet in April I also discovered he is running a biofuel company in Indonesia too. Biofuel companies by their very nature need vast amounts of agricultural land. The article alleges an investment of several hundred million US dollars. This biofuel business has no website whatsoever and I have only been able to find two references on the internet to this company despite an alleged investment in the hundreds of millions. Why the secrecy?

So to put it simply, on one hand this man is very publicly running a business that claims to use investor funds to preserve the rainforest, yet, on the other hand he is very secretly running another company that has a vested interest in clearing it.

You could be forgiven for thinking there might be a conflict of interests here. You could also be forgiven for suspecting that investor's funds from the first company might be being used by the second; directly contradicting the purpose of the investment. You could also be forgiven for believing that the apparent secrecy of the second company has sinister connotations.

It is possible that everything here is entirely legitimate and that I am seeing something where there is nothing to see.

However bear in mind the following facts about his first company's website (for preserving the forest):

• It has no links to or affiliations with recognised international environmental associations. None whatsoever.
  
• The same website states his intention to raise funds from 100,000s of individual investors, each investing as little as $100. He even offers to donate an extra $100,000 for every 100,000 investors.
  
• It states that those investing will be given membership to an exclusive club (with its own website) that uses a name that is similar to and usually associated with other recognisable and legitimate good causes. I tried to navigate to that exclusive club website and guess what - it doesn't exist.
  
• The company website is written using dubious, amateurish language that anyone could have written over a tea-break. No hint of academic rigour, no statistics, no analysis of the impact your investment would have in terms of CO2, say.
  
• Given his home and businesses are on a low-lying coastal plain only feet from sea-level you'd think he'd emphasise on his website that he has a vested interest in preventing climate change, but somehow his website omits this salient fact.
  
• His company website proudly and repeatedly boasts that he and other founders of the company live in Indonesia yet they neglect to declare their names, display their photos or provide any phone numbers. Contact is only available by email. Why operate so publicly with such secrecy?
  

If this does not strike you as suspicious then you may be interested to know that in 2006 when I appealed to this man's better nature regarding a major financial transaction he warned me in no uncertain terms that he had already made his decision (putting me at a massive disadvantage) and that if I persisted with the matter that his contacts in the Sydney Underworld would break my legs. Does this sound to you like a man of conscience or a man of violence, a gangster perhaps?

Moreover, in April this year, I also discovered that this man's business partner, an Indian-Australian, absconded from Indonesia in late 2008 with US$372,000 of the biofuel company's funds and is now wanted by Interpol. I have tracked his son down; he is working for an internationally recognised computer company in Texas. (If you can think of the name of Southamption FC's old football ground, you will know that name of this company).

Even moreover, the Aussie at the centre of this story also happens to be a business partner with a Kiwi in Indonesia who is known to have a very dubious background. The Kiwi runs a large group of trading companies in a popular Indonesian tourist resort but is alleged to keep a loaded sawn-off double barrell shotgun bolted to the underside his office desk and was also alleged to have swindled another Australian business partner out of all his money, sending him to his suicide - I know this poor unfortunate chap's traumatised son.

Anyway.

As a result of what I have uncovered I now strongly suspect that companies around the world claiming to save the rainforest are in fact fronts for biofuel companies. On what scale is this deception happening? God only knows, but it is potentially a massive global scandal.

[timebandit]

Sorry Dave not able to assist. However your post as just made me understand since becoming unemployed and only doing menial jobs since. I've started to lead a dull life, good luck with your endeavors.

[porca misèria]

Moral: know what you're investing in (or contributing to - charities are a mixed bag too).

Other moral: sometimes unfashionable "dirty" energy may be the lesser of evils. It may be less damaging to open a coal-fired power station than to have the peasants chop down all the trees for fuel. Provided of course it's a temporary solution, and will be replaced in time with nuclear and/or 'renewables' like solar/wind/water.

FWIW, I'm just about to put a few squid into this solar energy fund (just waiting for September's paycheque to ease the cashflow). A high-risk investment, but a credible team and business plan, and nice tax benefits both in the immediate rebate and the tax-free dividends.

[MrPin]

I suspect there's a lot of this when something "un-quatifiable" is sold, like a nice feeling, and "carbon credits"!

Reminds me of the "selling of indulgences"!

[Dave Spart]

Moral: know what you're investing in (or contributing to - charities are a mixed bag too).

Other moral: sometimes unfashionable "dirty" energy may be the lesser of evils. It may be less damaging to open a coal-fired power station than to have the peasants chop down all the trees for fuel. Provided of course it's a temporary solution, and will be replaced in time with nuclear and/or 'renewables' like solar/wind/water.

FWIW, I'm just about to put a few squid into this solar energy fund (just waiting for September's paycheque to ease the cashflow). A high-risk investment, but a credible team and business plan, and nice tax benefits both in the immediate rebate and the tax-free dividends.

To be clear the financial transaction I was involved with had nothing to do with any of his businesses (it was actually the sale of my house in Indonesia).

Given this man's nasty vicious behaviour towards me, which left me substantially out of pocket, I shall be investigating this individual and his business activities and if I can prove any deception then the story goes to all the major international news agencies. I want this man to serve the rest of life his in prison (he is already in his mid 60's).

I can't nail him for the crime he committed against me in 2006, but for the first time it looks like there may be a way for me to nail him for crimes he is committing elsewhere.

His Judgement Cometh and That Right Soon.

[1929crash]

Biofuel is sooo dubious. It takes more energy inputs to grow a crop than the enery you get out of said crop.

[Dave Spart]

Yep, siree.

Biofuel is universally accepted as the worst of the green alternatives to fossil fuel. Biofuel certainly has its detractors (as well as its tractors, I'm sure):

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7483

http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/reports.php

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40467

But quelle surprise that doesn't stop Goldman Sachs touting it.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSHKG28600520080115 *

And why would that be? Because it involves massive amounts of land - and that involves massive amounts of lending. Banks and land go hand-in-hand. I'm beginning to wonder if biofuel is just another scam-cum-bubble like subprime was. Whichever way it would seem my Australian 'friend' is in good company.

*Jatropha is the very crop the Australian is growing in Indonesia.

[worzel]

FWIW, I'm just about to put a few squid into this solar energy fund (just waiting for September's paycheque to ease the cashflow). A high-risk investment, but a credible team and business plan, and nice tax benefits both in the immediate rebate and the tax-free dividends.

I know of those guys, not fly by nights. Best of luck with the investment.

[Dave Spart]

for further reading:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-leaders-of-the-rich-world-are-enacting-a-giant-fraud-1837963.html

http://www.redd-monitor.org/2010/05/13/australias-big-redd-carbon-scam/

and very interestingly http://www.noe21.org/site/images/stories/Noe21/pdf/forest_fraud.pdf

http://www.noe21.org/site/images/stories/Noe21/pdf/forest_fraud.pdf

http://www.sinkswatch.org/campaign/carbon-sinks-101

[porca misèria]

I know of those guys, not fly by nights. Best of luck with the investment.

Yeah, I already have money invested in some of their generalist funds. Anticipating some nice tax-free dividends over the winter.

[Dave Spart]

The Carbon Neutral Myth: Offset Indulgences for your Climate Sins

http://www.carbontradewatch.org/pubs/carbon_neutral_myth.pdf

[Dave Spart]

Following a conversation with a wealthy American friend last night more unbelievable truths have emerged.

There is now reason to suspect the Indian-Australian fugitive who absconded with the large sum of money from the biofuel company in Indonesia may actually have been running scared for his life, rather than committing fraud.

Last night it was brought to my attention that the Indian-Australian owns a very substantial villa in Indonesia reputedly worth several million dollars. Why then would he abscond with a measly couple of hundred thousand and leave his house behind?

Why would he abscond? I'm guessing he was running from a death threat; I'm also guessing he has dirt on the operation in Indonesia, he got into a bust up with his colleagues and he threatened to spill the beans; they then threatened to kill him.

The nature of his departure from Indonesia suggests he was in an awful hurry - and the fraud he allegedly committed was not pre-planned. In fact, I strongly suspect the fraud allegation is a complete and total fabrication and he has been fitted-up to prevent him getting into Indonesia again, leaving the criminal gang to continue in their murky dealings. Essentially they dispensed with him once he became a problem.

If this is true then my enemy's enemy is my friend and I have to track this guy down. He will be able to corroborate my suspicions and could be the star witness in any criminal trial. Doubtless he has a lot of dirt on the gang in Indonesia.

What makes these revelations all the more astounding is the biofuel company's registered office is the villa I mentioned above - and breathtakingly happens to be adjacent to and is overlooked by my American friend's own home!!

(Massive intake of breath)

My friend has staff regularly maintaining his own house. We could potentially ask the staff to monitor movements and note who comes back and forth next door, noting times, names, car registration plates etc.

We have perfect cover for this covert operation. Why? When the American found out his wife was deceiving him they split; she moved into a house just a few doors down the road. Unbelievably, my friend's house and his ex-wife's house sandwich the registered office of the biofuel company. During their stormy bust up they were spying on each other. Asking his staff now to spy on the property immediately next door would just appear to be a continuation of established behaviour and therefore draw nobody's suspicions. Best of all, the staff are in situ 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Hopefully they can provide a rudimentary assessment of the security measures on the building. Also speaking to the fugitive directly would help enormously. Its his house and he will know it better than anyone.

[Dave Spart]

Another reason to contact the fugitive is this:

I have reason to believe that he is currently in mainland USA.

The USA does not currently have an extradition treaty with Indonesia*, but Australia does, therefore he is safe in the USA but not in Australia.

If he returns to his home country of Australia he faces the possibility of arrest and being sent to face trial in Indonesia.

If however those making accusations against him Indonesia were themselves brought to justice, it might mean Interpol called off their search and that he could be free to return to his homes in Indonesia and Australia.

The Aussie at the centre of this story (see OP) seems to have a habit of screwing up other people's lives.

*Confirmed by the State Department's Indonesia Desk last Friday.

[MrPin]

The Carbon Neutral Myth: Offset Indulgences for your Climate Sins

http://www.carbontradewatch.org/pubs/carbon_neutral_myth.pdf

Yes, I think that's what I meant!

[Dave Spart]

Yes, I think that's what I meant!

Indeed it was. Essentially carbon credits are a 21st century equivalent of the old medieval corrupt Roman Catholic practices.

The difference is whereas corrupt power-brokers of centuries ago were selling absolution from God, these ass-holes are selling absolution from Gaia*.

The former is figment of the imagination. The latter is something we all live in, period.

Both are licences to do wrong, but today's industrialised version has the capacity to inflict serious damage on our one and only home.

In writing the above sentence I just realised a deeply personal and meaningful allegory (see post 5). I will not allow criminals to use my home as a base from which to destroy everyone else's.

"Watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh."

*Gaia is the mythological Greek goddess of the Earth and also the name of a hypothesis created by scientist James Lovelock.

[porca misèria]

I know of those guys, not fly by nights. Best of luck with the investment.

Sent off the application form and cheque yesterday. An altogether better way to pay for carbon reduction than some corrupt scheme, with the added bonus that it holds out a reasonable prospect of turning a profit.

(It's the second such investment I've made this tax year - the first was in a wind farm fund).

[Dave Spart]

There is one very simple way to fight the problem of corrupt rainforest preservation and biofuel schemes and that is by way of the internet*. Google already have most of the facilities in place to achieve this aim, all that's needed is a few extra steps.

(1) Google Maps already provides high quality satellite images of the entire Earth. Here an example of the Amazonian Rainforest:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=brazil&sll=53.800651,-.064941&sspn=19.59576,39.418945&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Brazil&ll=-14.235004,-51.92528&spn=0.00782,0.009624&t=h&z=17

(2) The internet is one of the easiest ways for companies to promote themselves and certainly rainforest preservation companies atrract a great deal of business this way. Google could demand that any such company wishing to be listed by their search engine must keep open and transprent records of the rainforest they claim to preserve, else Google omits them from search results**. Google could also demand this of any organisation related to such companies. For instance, did you know that BP is involved in growing biofuel crops, so too Mercedes? Would you buy their products if you knew they were investing in bogus rainforest protection schemes for the sake of their environmental image?

(3) With both sets of records online (Google's satellite photos and matching land deeds) the world would have the means to be eternally vigilant. (Land Deeds can be obtained independently from land registries anywhere in the world).

Its the rainforest that needs to flourish, not evil men.

(4) Any rainforest preservation or biofuel company that declines the opportunity to comply with these basic requirements (of provide open and transparent records of their land deeds) is named online for the public to draw their own conclusions.

(5) Moreover, all land deeds on all properties everywhere around the world should be accessible to the public, not just for the noble aim of saving the rainforest, but for making public just precisely who owns what. Hopefully this would make using land corruptly nigh-on impossible and perhaps make property price booms a thing of the past. Certainly it would help expose the activities of dubious organisations like banks and oil companies for all to see.

*Light is the best medicine to cure the cancer of corruption.

** http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/world_news_america/9038870.stm

[Dave Spart]

Leaving work tonight I got talking to a colleague. She is originally from China.

I explained my story to her just as I explained it in the OP of this thread. She told me her ex-boyfriend's mother invested US$10,000 in one of these rainforest preservation projects in China, then sometime later went to ask for her money back and guess what - there wasn't any!!!

She had been a victim of Forest Fraudsters precisely the way I speculated it would happen.