In interviews with The Gecko Project, former employees said that First Resources had shared senior management, staff and even an IT system with two other corporate groups, FAP Agri and New Borneo Agri. Two First Resources employees, documents show, were even named as legal representatives of New Borneo Agri.
Responding to the investigation, First Resources said that New Borneo Agri and another group of alleged “shadow” companies, Ciliandry Anky Abadi, were neither its “subsidiaries, associated companies, nor related parties”. It reiterated earlier statements that it had no control over FAP Agri.
What is a shadow company?
First Resources’ statement has failed to reassure some companies that have sourced palm oil from the corporation. The skincare firm Beiersdorf, which produces Nivea moisturiser, said that it was “deeply concerned” by the findings and was “taking as much action as possible.” It stressed the difficulty of getting multiple suppliers in its “long and complex” supply chain to suspend First Resources, but stated that two had done so at its request.
The Gecko Project asked 16 consumer goods firms and palm oil processors that have recently sourced from First Resources what steps they had taken in response to the investigation. Half said that they had suspended First Resources, including Beiersdorf, cleaning and personal care company Procter & Gamble, food manufacturers FrieslandCampina, Danone and Vandemoortele, laundry and hair care company Henkel, vegetable oils firm Lipsa and chemicals company BASF.
“It's good to see that companies have responded with suspensions,” said Gemma Tillack, forest policy director at the nonprofit Rainforest Action Network, or RAN. “It is critical that we see immediate action in cases where shadow companies are involved in deforestation, so the investigation is setting an important precedent for the palm oil sector.”
In interviews with The Gecko Project, former employees said that First Resources had shared senior management, staff and even an IT system with two other corporate groups, FAP Agri and New Borneo Agri. Two First Resources employees, documents show, were even named as legal representatives of New Borneo Agri.
Responding to the investigation, First Resources said that New Borneo Agri and another group of alleged “shadow” companies, Ciliandry Anky Abadi, were neither its “subsidiaries, associated companies, nor related parties”. It reiterated earlier statements that it had no control over FAP Agri.
First Resources’ statement has failed to reassure some companies that have sourced palm oil from the corporation. The skincare firm Beiersdorf, which produces Nivea moisturiser, said that it was “deeply concerned” by the findings and was “taking as much action as possible.” It stressed the difficulty of getting multiple suppliers in its “long and complex” supply chain to suspend First Resources, but stated that two had done so at its request.
In interviews with The Gecko Project, former employees said that First Resources had shared senior management, staff and even an IT system with two other corporate groups, FAP Agri and New Borneo Agri. Two First Resources employees, documents show, were even named as legal representatives of New Borneo Agri.
Responding to the investigation, First Resources said that New Borneo Agri and another group of alleged “shadow” companies, Ciliandry Anky Abadi, were neither its “subsidiaries, associated companies, nor related parties”. It reiterated earlier statements that it had no control over FAP Agri.
First Resources’ statement has failed to reassure some companies that have sourced palm oil from the corporation. The skincare firm Beiersdorf, which produces Nivea moisturiser, said that it was “deeply concerned” by the findings and was “taking as much action as possible.” It stressed the difficulty of getting multiple suppliers in its “long and complex” supply chain to suspend First Resources, but stated that two had done so at its request.
First Resources’ statement has failed to reassure some companies that have sourced palm oil from the corporation.
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Responding to the investigation, First Resources said that New Borneo Agri and another group of alleged “shadow” companies, Ciliandry Anky Abadi, were neither its “subsidiaries, associated companies, nor related parties”.
The Gecko Project asked 16 consumer goods firms and palm oil processors that have recently sourced from First Resources what steps they had taken in response to the investigation. Half said that they had suspended First Resources, including Beiersdorf, cleaning and personal care company Procter & Gamble, food manufacturers FrieslandCampina, Danone and Vandemoortele, laundry and hair care company Henkel, vegetable oils firm Lipsa and chemicals company BASF.
“It's good to see that companies have responded with suspensions,” said Gemma Tillack, forest policy director at the nonprofit Rainforest Action Network, or RAN. “It is critical that we see immediate action in cases where shadow companies are involved in deforestation, so the investigation is setting an important precedent for the palm oil sector.”
While First Resources repudiated the findings from The Gecko Project’s investigation in a statement last November, it wrote in response to the latest developments that it “recognises the seriousness of the allegations” and has “brought on independent support to investigate these issues and identify an action plan”.
