Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - The Environment Ministry has named 10 people charged with setting fire to forested land in Riau Province last year.

They were all named as suspects at the end of last year, deputy for environment law to the environment minister Sudariyono told Antara here on Sunday.

It took nearly six months for the ministry to name them as suspects, he said adding they could not yet be brought to justice as their dossiers had not been complete.

All the suspects work for companies.

According to data, the ministry is handling seven out of eight cases of companies allegedly setting fire to forested land in Riau in 2013. Four of the companies are engaged in timber estate and three in oil palm plantations.

The timber estate companies are PT Sumatera Riang Lestari (SRL), PT Bukit Batu Hutani Alam (BBHA), PT Sakato Makmur Pratama (SMP), and PT Ruas Utama Jaya (RUJ), while the oil palm plantation companies are PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa, PT Bumi Reksa Nusa Sejati (BRNS), and PT Langgam Inti Hibrido (LIH).

Meanwhile, the Riau provincial police are handling the case of Malaysian company PT Adei Plantation & Industry for allegedly setting fire to forested land in 2013. Two suspects of the company in the case are undergoing legal process in the Pelalawan district court.

Sudariyono said the ministry had named two suspects each from PT Sumatera Riang Lestari, PT Ruas Utama Jaya (RUJ) and PT Sakato Makmur Pratama.

The two suspects from PT Sumatera Riang Lestari, identified by their initials as RKT and JS, were strongly believed to have been involved in forested land fire in Bengkalis distrist last year.

"The two suspects are top members of the companys management," he said.

He said two top members of the management of PT Ruas Utama Jaya are also been named suspects in the case. They were identified by their initials as GZ and SN.

Reporting by FB Anggoro
(T.SYS/A/S012/S012)

Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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