Canadian Press Exposes Jackson Wijaya, the Fox Who Wanted to Guard the Henhouse

Joaquim de Carvalho

The Canadian Parliament’s summons of Jackson Wijaya confirms the correctness of the decision by Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) regarding Eldorado Brasil Celulose. About a month ago, Cade revoked the political rights of Paper Excellence within the company.

Wijaya is accused by Canadian lawmakers of deceiving the country's authorities by claiming he had no ties to Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a company notorious for environmental and financial violations, particularly in Indonesia, its home country.

CBC News, in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, conducted an extensive investigation that revealed a network of offshore entities concealing APP as the true controller of Paper Excellence. Wijaya denied these links to gain approval to take over companies, making Paper Excellence the largest pulp producer in Canada. Recently, Wijaya's hereditary control over APP was exposed.

"Asia Pulp and Paper has a notorious environmental record," said Canadian MP Charlie Angus during a Natural Resources Committee hearing. "No one would have allowed Asia Pulp and Paper or the Wijaya family to take over Canadian forestry operations if they had known the truth. That’s why Paper Excellence was created as a Trojan horse to enter Canada."

Upon learning of the Canadian press investigation, I wrote that Wijaya deceived Canadian authorities and published an interview with an Indonesian Greenpeace official.

"The acquisition of a pulp mill in Brazil by Sinar Mas (APP’s parent company) is bad news for local communities and forests. More investments in destructive industries by a company with the worst track record is a disaster in the making," said Syahrul Fitra, a senior forest activist with Greenpeace Indonesia.

Fitra further explained that Sinar Mas/APP and its suppliers deforested over one million hectares of native forests in Sumatra for plantations by 2010. Despite introducing a zero-deforestation policy in 2013 and promising to protect and restore one million hectares of forests, only about half that area has been safeguarded. Worse, APP has made minimal progress in ending operations in peatlands.

For Canadian lawmakers and environmental activists, Wijaya’s commitment to the truth is non-existent. The same holds true in Brazil, where Wijaya is allegedly supported by the far right and suspected of financing movements nearly leading to a coup against President Lula.

Despite this, Brazilian media has largely portrayed Wijaya as a legitimate investor. Even when he posed with a fake check alongside far-right figure Eduardo Bolsonaro, it failed to raise alarms in Brazil’s specialized journalism circles.

Paper Excellence/APP competes with Brazilian pulp mills but owns 49.41% of Eldorado and, as a board member, has accessed strategic information and blocked new investments. The company also announced plans to build a factory in Brazil, making it a domestic competitor. Cade intervened, revoking its political rights, a decision upheld last week.

This decision aligns with precedent, such as the Usiminas case, where CSN was barred from board participation and forced to sell most of its shares in the competing company.

Some media criticized Cade, particularly far-right aligned outlets, but both the author of the injunction, Alexandre Barreto de Souza, and the appeal rapporteur, Victor Oliveira Fernandes, deserve praise for their technical precision and courage.

Elizabeth Thompson, a leading Canadian journalist behind the exposé, confirmed the investigation but declined an interview, citing journalistic objectivity. She referred me to the Natural Resources Committee for further information.

Brazil is not a banana republic. Laws exist here and must be upheld.