“In reality, when Shafie was chief minister, he was working on the same carbon deal but was unable to finish it because Warisan lost the (state) election (in September 2020),” Kitingan said in a statement here today.

“Warisan even organised a seminar on the subject. It was officiated by Shafie’s then deputy chief minister Wilfred Madius Tangau.”

Kitingan, who is also Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) president, accused Shafie of trying to score points with the public by faking information over the deal, known as the Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA).

He contended that Shafie was attempting to manipulate the emotions of the people by accusing the state government of selling two million hectares of land to foreigners through the NCA.

“But now he is saying it is a lease,” he said, referring to a statement issued by Shafie yesterday over the NCA.

Kitingan explained that the agreement was solely for the purpose of conserving the forests and to allow Hoch Standard Pte Ltd to trade idle carbon and realise the monetary value of carbon through science.

“The company would find bidders who will offer the best price for Sabah,” he said of the Singapore-based company that was engaged by the government for the NCA.

Shafie, who had previously likened the NCA to “selling” state land to foreigners, reiterated his claim, saying it was unacceptable that up to two million hectares of forest land would be “given away” to a foreign company under the carbon deal.

He added the company also had no proven track record in the carbon trading industry.

The Semporna MP questioned why the current government was putting state land as collateral for 100 years under the NCA. He said his government had previously given thousands of hectares of land to the indigenous communities.

It was previously reported that some 600,000 hectares of forest was to be initially used for the carbon trade deal, which could later be increased to two million hectares.

In his statement today, Kitingan said that under the carbon deal negotiated by Warisan, Shafie had agreed to a 51:49 formula over the profits, with 51% going to the state government and the rest to the company.

He said under the current NCA, agreed to by the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government, the government would take 70% of the profits.

Kitingan said the company, which will be responsible for all aspects of the business, including marketing and sales, would only receive 30%.

“Given the much better deal on the table, it would be unthinkable for the GRS government to cancel or stop the NCA as suggested by Shafie.

“Cancelling the agreement will waste months of hard work and delay our plans for Sabah. We don’t want to manage and run Sabah the way the previous governments did.

“How can we expect different results if we keep using the same strategy that has proven to be ineffective?”