The committee formed to investigate teak poles confiscated in Yei River County of South Sudan’s Central Equatoria State last month has completed its work, an official said.
The probe came after security operatives impounded 21 trucks loaded with teak poles over alleged failure to pay taxes to the government.
Julius Monyega, the Director-General in the defunct Yei River State Agriculture and Forestry Ministry, told Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday that the committee found out that the teak poles were legally harvested from private out-growers and not government-owned plantations.
“There was a team from Juba led by the Director-General sent to prove the issue of the 21 trucks loaded with teak poles which were offloaded at Yei Freedom Square. We showed to the committee all the legal documents and it was discovered the teak poles belonged to businessmen who directly bought them from out-growers, not from government reserves. The team also went to Loka and found that government reserves were not cut,” he explained.
According to the official, the confiscated teak poles will soon be released to rightful owners to be transported to Juba and other states.
“When we held the meeting, we concluded that the committee should go and tell the concerned people that these teak poles were released. These teak poles were not meant to go to Uganda, but they are to go to Juba and we resolved that these poles be given to the owners because they have legal documents,” he said.
Last year, authorities in the now-defunct Yei River State issued local orders banning the logging of timber in the area.