DIRTY BANKERS

owned by the Korindo company, which has close links to
PT BIA and gives advice to the company, 343 but no other
plantation concessions in Papua had anywhere near the
same number of hotspots.
SOCIAL CONFLICT
PT BIA is one of six large oil palm plantations in this part
of Papua that have started clearing forest since 2011,
causing a major upheaval in the lives of the indigenous
Marind community in the area. This has also caused conflict
between the community and the companies. There have
been allegations that PT BIA did not obtain the free, prior
and informed consent of the entire community before
starting work. 344 Community members have also claimed
that they were not properly involved in a decision-making
process, that they had no access to relevant company
documents and that compensation payments were
inadequate. Sacred places have reportedly been cleared
and conflict has broken out between different clans. 345
Some clans have used customary law in an attempt
to prevent the company from using their land, claiming
that the recipients of compensation for the land were
not the actual customary landowners. 346 HSBC policy
prohibits providing financial services to companies
whose operations result in significant social conflict and
where there is evidence of violation of the rights of local
people, including failure to obtain FPIC. 347
STATEMENTS
PRODUCER COMPANY
Prior to the publication of this report, Greenpeace
contacted POSCO Daewoo to seek confirmation of
the finance HSBC and other banks have provided, and
to verify the report’s findings of deforestation and
other activities that would violate HSBC’s policies. The
company failed to reply.
BANK
In January 2017, Greenpeace wrote to HSBC to confirm
financial links with POSCO Daewoo and to ask it
what action had been taken in response to the policy
breaches that have been identified. HSBC said that
‘customer confidentiality restricts us from commenting
on specific relationships’. 348
40 DIRTY BANKERS