Two firms linked to Malaysian timber giant Samling, a company notorious for destroying tropical forests and abusing local communities, are being considered for major logging contracts in Liberia because of flaws in the bid evaluation process, Global Witness revealed today. The NGO is calling on the Liberian government not to sign any new logging deals until thorough background checks are carried out on the companies that have bid...Global Witness has discovered that one of the companies bidding for forest management contracts in Liberia, Southeast Resources Limited, is 60% owned by Woodman, a firm in which Samling is reported to have a 50% stake. Another bidder, Atlantic Resources Limited, is linked to Samling via a firm called Perkapalan Damai Timar (PDT)...Woodman owns 60% of Alpha Logging, a company which won another logging contract in Liberia earlier this year. Global Witness wrote to Samling asking about its relationships with Woodman, PDT, Atlantic, Southeast and Alpha. Samling responded stating that ‘Samling Global Limited is not involved in the bidding or awarding of any forest management contract in Liberia...”