A COMPANY at the centre of a row over illegal mahogany imports for the Royal Navy has denied any responsibility for the logging which is devastating the Amazon rain forest.

Friends of the Earth and DirectTV, based in Cowley Road, Oxford, claim the Ministry of Defence bought mahogany from a company involved in illegal logging in the Brazilian Amazon and that it was used to refurbish Royal Navy ships.

In a BBC TV programme, the campaigners said the Government's pledge to buy wood only from sustainable forests was in a shambles.

The programme said the supplier involved in Brazil - Juary - was engaged in illegal logging.

The 7,230 cubic feet of mahogany was bought by the MoD from importers Parker Kislingbury of Brill. Managing director Ole Salven said: "We are and always have been committed to buying from sustainable forests.

"On this transaction all our paperwork was in order and we bought in good faith.

"We do not like the prospect of the devastation of the Amazon rainforest any more than Friends of the Earth and we are very concerned about these allegations. "I have offered to meet the Friends of the Earth, examine their evidence and discuss the future with them. I am hoping those talks can be set up soon."

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