Head of the new National Assembly Construction Committee, Cheam Yeap (Photo: Cambodia's Family Tree, Global Witness)
Cambodia's new National Assembly under constrcution, Decembet 2006 (Photo: Cambodia's Family Tree, Global Witness)Excerpt from Cambodia's Family Tree
Global Witness
June 2007
Furnishing the National Assembly
The first coupe to become operational is officially described as a “special coupe to supply timber to the new National Assembly Construction Committee”. The chairman of this committee, CPP parliamentarian Cheam Yeap, wrote to Chan Sarun in May 2004 to inform him that the new National Assembly building would require luxury timber for furniture and grade I and II wood for other unspecified purposes. Luxury grade timber comes from rare tree species that are protected by law. In March 2005 Chan Sarun directed the FA to establish a coupe on the cancelled Hero Taiwan logging concession in Ratanakiri Province. This decision contravenes the Sub-decree on Forest Concession Management, which states that forest in cancelled logging concessions cannot be reallocated to another company.
Chan Sarun’s instructions to the FA called for the harvesting of 10,577 cubic meters of logs in order to generate 6509 cubic meters of sawn wood. The inventory that the FA subsequently drew up went much further, however, and proposed felling 16,747 cubic meters of logs. These plans suggested that Cambodia’s new National Assembly building might be among the most comprehensively furnished in the world. Global Witness does not have the specifications for the proposed items of furniture. However, it is worth considering that processing 16,747 cubic meters of logs into rather thick 25 mm wood panel at the conversion rate specified by Chan Sarun would generate 41 ha of panelling or enough to cover 1580 tennis courts.
In 2005 the government awarded a permit to cut timber in the coupe to a company named Heng Brothers. To the best of Global Witness’ knowledge, this permit allocation did not follow any kind of open bidding process. Heng Brothers was previously involved in illegally logging Botum Sakor National Park in Koh Kong Province in 2004, in cahoots with an offshoot of controversial Indonesian firm Asia Pulp and Paper. For the special coupe Heng Brothers teamed up with Ly Chhuong Construction Company, which is building the new National Assembly and is reportedly owned by the son-in-law of Cheam Yeap.
Heng Brothers commenced operations in April 2005 and was still logging the coupe midway through the following year. In September 2006 Global Witness received reports from a source close to the company that timber cut in the special coupe was not going to the National Assembly as required but was instead being transported across the border for sale in Vietnam. This account is corroborated by separate investigations in Ratanakiri by NGO workers.
In August 2006 Cheam Yeap announced that the coupe had so far yielded only 257 cubic meters timber for the National Assembly construction. Global Witness wrote to him in February 2007 to ask for an update on this figure, but has not yet received a reply.
Chan Sarun’s instructions to the FA called for the harvesting of 10,577 cubic meters of logs in order to generate 6509 cubic meters of sawn wood. The inventory that the FA subsequently drew up went much further, however, and proposed felling 16,747 cubic meters of logs. These plans suggested that Cambodia’s new National Assembly building might be among the most comprehensively furnished in the world. Global Witness does not have the specifications for the proposed items of furniture. However, it is worth considering that processing 16,747 cubic meters of logs into rather thick 25 mm wood panel at the conversion rate specified by Chan Sarun would generate 41 ha of panelling or enough to cover 1580 tennis courts.
In 2005 the government awarded a permit to cut timber in the coupe to a company named Heng Brothers. To the best of Global Witness’ knowledge, this permit allocation did not follow any kind of open bidding process. Heng Brothers was previously involved in illegally logging Botum Sakor National Park in Koh Kong Province in 2004, in cahoots with an offshoot of controversial Indonesian firm Asia Pulp and Paper. For the special coupe Heng Brothers teamed up with Ly Chhuong Construction Company, which is building the new National Assembly and is reportedly owned by the son-in-law of Cheam Yeap.
Heng Brothers commenced operations in April 2005 and was still logging the coupe midway through the following year. In September 2006 Global Witness received reports from a source close to the company that timber cut in the special coupe was not going to the National Assembly as required but was instead being transported across the border for sale in Vietnam. This account is corroborated by separate investigations in Ratanakiri by NGO workers.
In August 2006 Cheam Yeap announced that the coupe had so far yielded only 257 cubic meters timber for the National Assembly construction. Global Witness wrote to him in February 2007 to ask for an update on this figure, but has not yet received a reply.
4 comments:
AH CHEAM YAP is a Vietcong trained economist! Economically when AH CHEAM YAP does anything and he always deal with the Vietcong to enrich himself and his family! I just wish this motherfucker move to Hanio and die there!
This guy look so ugly. I feel sorry for the karaoke girls that sleep with him. They have to endure so much.
youns (vietnamese) are the China's
ethnic people, so youns culture and
their old characteristic letters are the
same as those of Chinese
No wonder that the tradition of this Chinese
ethnic people(youns called by chinese) is that :
- vietnamese men in in any country, most
of them are thiefs or robbers
- and vietnamese women in in any country,
most of them are prostitutes
You are racist. You have blind and unacceptable prejudices towards foreign people. There are bad people among the Vietameses and the among the Khmers.Don't make amalgame.
There are also REal "Doctorate Degree" and Bogus Doctorate Degree". Cheam Yeap just got a funny Bogus Doctorate Degree".
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