Rainforest Action Network findings suggest Singapore-listed First Resources misled shareholders, buyers, and regulators regarding their integration with shadow companies that are amongst the largest destroyers of forests in Indonesia
San Francisco — Oct 29 — A year-long investigation by Rainforest Action Network (RAN) raises serious questions about whether one of Southeast Asia’s largest publicly traded palm oil companies has concealed the true origin of palm oil entering global supply chains, and likely misled shareholders, buyers, and regulators about its extensive commercial relationship to companies driving deforestation in East Kalimantan.
In a 2024 statement to the Singapore Stock Exchange, First Resources (SGX: EB5) categorically denied any commercial relationship to a group of companies operating as ‘KAS Group’. RAN’s investigation suggests this statement was grossly misleading, as First Resources’s supply chains appear to be integrated with KAS Group and FAP Agri (IDX:FAPA), another producer controlled by the Fangiono group, who also control First Resources.
According to RAN’s findings, palm oil from companies responsible for thousands of hectares of recent rainforest destruction is transported, stored and shipped through shared infrastructure where it appears to be commingled before entering international markets as purportedly compliant with No Deforestation, No Peatland, No Exploitation (NDPE) commitments.
The report also identifies approximately US$1.2 billion in credit issued to companies across the Fangiono Group between January 2021 and September 2026, including financing from major Asian banks that have adopted policies intended to prevent financing for clients’ driving deforestation.
These findings are being released alongside a separate investigation by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Kaoem Telapak, which presents extensive new evidence demonstrating how First Resources, KAS Group and FAP Agri appear to operate as a single corporate group. Together, the investigations combine corporate records, governance analysis and on-the-ground supply chain evidence that point to the same broader pattern.
RAN has submitted formal grievances to major palm oil traders and global brands linked to the Fangiono group, calling on them to investigate the findings and suspend sourcing across the group, to ensure deforestation-linked palm oil cannot continue entering markets through affiliated companies or undisclosed supply routes.
Among the investigation’s findings:
- Evidence suggesting First Resources, FAP Agri and KAS Group function as a coordinated corporate group with integrated palm oil logistics and shared infrastructure despite public denials.
- Internal accounting records that describe companies across the three groups as “related parties,” contradicting categorical denials of such relationships to investors made to the Singapore Stock Exchange.
- Documentation of crude palm oil (CPO) produced by KAS Group being transported through First Resources’ Mahakam River bulking facility, where it appears to be commingled with First Resources and FAP Agri CPO, before shipment to downstream refineries.
- More than 9,800 hectares of forest cleared across Fangiono-controlled concessions between January 2021 and May 2026, including habitat where RAN documented endangered Eastern Grey Gibbons during field investigations.
- Evidence that major international brands and financial institutions remain connected to the wider Fangiono corporate group through supply chains and financing relationships.
NDPE policies have contributed to slowing deforestation by shifting global norms and expectations. Markets must not allow producers like the Fangiono group to undermine this progress.
“Buyers cannot trust promises of deforestation-free palm oil when the supplier hides where that oil comes from,” said Pete Cooper, Senior Corporate Engagement Specialist at Rainforest Action Network. “Cutting out an exposed plantation while accepting promises from the rest of the group leaves buyers relying on the very systems that misled them. Restoring trust requires independent verification that the Fangiono group has stopped both the destruction and the concealment. Buyers that accept those assurances without that proof put consumer trust in deforestation-free claims across the industry at risk.”
The investigation centers on the Mahakam River watershed in East Kalimantan, one of the last remaining forest landscapes in Indonesian Borneo. RAN investigators documented palm oil moving by truck and barge from mills associated with ongoing forest clearance into facilities operated by First Resources, before continuing to coastal refineries serving international markets.
The report comes as large parts of Borneo are once again engulfed in smoke from a rapidly escalating fire crisis that has drawn international attention. First Resources concessions are reported by multiple sources to be amongst those exhibiting large-scale burning. Scientists have long warned that clearing and draining forests for industrial palm oil development leaves landscapes far more vulnerable to catastrophic fires. The findings underscore the urgent need for companies, financiers and regulators to ensure that deforestation commitments are enforced before further damage is done.
The companies named in the report were given an opportunity to respond before publication. First Resources and FAP Agri disputed key allegations. Their responses are highlighted and addressed throughout the investigation, and can be found here: First Resources and FAP Agri. KAS Group did not respond to RAN’s questions.
Media Assets
- Drone footage
- Satellite imagery and before/after graphics
- River transport and vessel tracking animations
- Field photography
- Maps and supply-chain graphics
- B-roll from East Kalimantan
- Interviews with investigators and Indonesian partners