By Thet Sambath
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
Villagers in Ratanakkiri province's O'Chum district have lodged a complaint with rights group Adhoc claiming that 11 local people have illegally logged thousands of valuable trees with the assistance of police and district officials, an Adhoc official said. "They reported that thousands of luxury-wood trees have been cut in Thouy Ampil village and they were paid by police and district officials," Adhoc provincial coordinator Pen Bonnar said Wednesday. Five of the 11 villagers who were named in the Sept 22 complaint have since made statements to Adhoc alleging that they were ordered to cut the trees and were paid to do so by local officials, Pen Bonnar added. Koh Samoeurn, deputy district governor, denied giving permission for illegal logging but admitted that he did approve the cutting of 3 cubic meters of wood to build a new police post in 2005. That approval letter may have been used by others to fell many more trees, he added. Koh Samoeurn said villagers filed a similar complaint at his office last week and implicated the district's deputy police chief, Bun Thy. Koh Samoeurn alleged that Bun Thy bought luxury wood from the villagers to build a house. Bun Thy could not be contacted. Provincial Governor Muong Poy said military police were now investigating the reports. "If anyone is involved in this case, they must be held responsible," he said.
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