The Independent: HSBC funding destruction of vast areas of Indonesian rainforest, new report claims

HSBC also reportedly helped arrange $360 million of financing for companies in the Salim Group. Greenpeace alleges “extensive forest destruction” has taken place on the group’s plantations in Kalimantan, Indonesia. …

One of the group’s companies, Indofood, has also been accused of using child labour and abusing workers. A joint report published last year by the Rainforest Action Network, Indonesian labour rights group OPPUK and Washington-based International Labor Rights Forum claimed children as young as 13 were working on Indofood plantations, employees were being paid less than the minimum wage and female workers were made to handle highly toxic pesticides without adequate protection. (read more