The reputation of Australia’s $2 billion timber export industry is in question after four Queensland workers were fined and sentenced to jail for illegally exporting timber. Source: ABC Rural
Three directors and an employee of a wholesale timber and flooring company in Brisbane pleaded guilty to falsifying Commonwealth documents to send timber to a number of countries between 2006 and 2009.
Moxon and company directors Anthony Moxon, Andrew Wilson and Mark Affleck, along with employee Joanne Mason, have admitted to 74 charges of fraudulently exporting timber by using fake stamps to make Commonwealth documents.
They have been fined $858,000 and sentenced to a combined four-and-a-half years in jail.
All terms have been suspended, except for one director who will serve a minimum eight months.
Wayne Terpstra, acting first assistant secretary of compliance with the Department of Agriculture, said the employees have ignored and damaged the system.
“Certainly, it’s damaging for the confidence that buyers of Australian timber products in this case might have in the products that they’re getting and in fact the certification that’s being provided,” he said.
“People who might have considered or might be involved in similar behaviour need to be very, very concerned.”
Mr Terpstra said there are other ongoing cases involving allegations of false certification.
Sean Ryan, from Private Forestry Service Queensland, which is involved in timber export, said the case could harm the integrity of other certifications like the Australian Forestry Standard (AFS).
“Certainly, from the AFS point of view, it tends to struggle for recognition overseas, so if some … papers have been falsified, that’s certainly a worry for the long-term integrity of our certification processes.”
