Singapore NEA Issues Haze Law Notices to Ten Local Firms
The National Environment Agency served notices under Singapore's haze law to ten companies on Oct. 23, expanding its investigation into firms linked to transboundary haze.
On Oct. 23, Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) served legal notices to ten locally-registered companies under the country's haze law, widening a probe into entities suspected of contributing to the regional haze problem. Earlier in the month, NEA had also issued similar notices to ten Indonesian firms.
Several of the Singapore firms responded within a day, indicating their intention to cooperate with authorities. Senior Minister K. Shanmugam had warned on Oct. 19 that companies could no longer rely on complex corporate structures or cross-border arrangements to avoid accountability, and that the government would employ all available legal and regulatory tools.
Three of the notified firms – APP Company, APP Company (China) and Golden Agri International – are subsidiaries of the Sinar Mas conglomerate, which is controlled by the Widjaja family, listed by Forbes in 2025 as Indonesia's third-richest family. APP has previously been linked to haze incidents, with its Indonesian pulpwood suppliers receiving Section 9 notices in 2015 and again in 2026.
Wilmar International, the largest agribusiness among the ten, acknowledged on Oct. 16 that fires were detected in some of its Indonesian concessions, but said the blazes originated outside its plantation boundaries or on land farmed by local communities.
Indofood Agri Resources, owned by the Salim Group, listed former Economic Development Board chairman Philip Yeo as its chairman. Bumitama Agri, part of the Harita Group, is led by chief executive Lim Gunawan Hariyanto, a Singapore permanent resident.
First Resources, controlled through a British Virgin Islands holding company, is linked to the Fangiono family, whose patriarch was convicted of corruption in 2007. Greenpeace identified a First Resources-owned concession as a major source of haze-related hotspots in early October.
Kencana Agri, another SGX-listed palm-oil producer, reported that an Indonesian inspection found fires affecting about 62 ha of a North Kalimantan concession, but the company said the fires spread from adjacent land.
TSH Resources, part of a Malaysian plantation group, disclosed that 274 hotspots were detected within its Indonesian concessions between Jan. 1 and Oct. 21, while maintaining that none occurred in its planted areas. The firm also reported a fine of roughly RM 42 million for a subsidiary that cultivated land outside approved areas.
The NEA notices target firms across the palm-oil supply chain, signalling a more aggressive regulatory stance toward activities that may exacerbate transboundary haze.