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| Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com) |
Showing posts with label Hun Sen's family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hun Sen's family. Show all posts
Friday, September 09, 2011
Sacrava's Political Cartoon: New Release in the Kigdom of Wonder
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Hun Sen Nephew Sues Two of Opposition [-Like thug-uncle, like thug-nephew]
By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
29 August 2008
Original report from Phnom Penh
29 August 2008
A nephew of Prime Minister Hun Sen filed suit in Kandal provincial court this week, claiming he had been defamed by remarks of two opposition parliamentary candidates who accused him of assault.
Hun To's suit stems from an altercation on a ferry in Ponhea Leu district, Kandal, in which Sam Rainsy Party candidates Nuon Vuthy and Uch Sereyyuth said Hun To ordered his bodyguards to assault them.
Hun To has denied the accusation, and on Monday he asked the Kandal court to investigate the two men for defamation.
The alleged assault occurred during the campaign to the national election, when the two lawmakers say they were attacked by Hun To's bodyguards after they drove their vehicle off the ferry.
Nuon Vuthy said bodyguards Hun To's bodyguards punched him in the head and kicked Uch Sereyyuth after a confrontation on the ferry.
"If the court works at its procedure and is not under pressure from a powerful man, it would find the truth after it investigates," Nuon Vuthy said.
Kandal court prosecutor Ouk Kimsith confirmed receipt of the complaint.
"I have not taken any measures yet," he said.
He had also received a complaint from the two Sam Rainsy Party lawmakers of the assault and had referred that case to deputy prosecutor Koeurt Vannareth.
Hun To's lawyer, Yin Wengka, said Friday he had filed the complaint Monday.
"These two men defamed my client," he said. "What they said is not true. At that time, no bodyguard went with Hun To. At that time Hun To took one car with three people, traveling to Kampong Cham."
According to Cambodian law, defamation charges do not carry penalties of imprisonment, but do carry fines. Assaults can lead to a sentence of one to five years in prison.
Hun To's suit stems from an altercation on a ferry in Ponhea Leu district, Kandal, in which Sam Rainsy Party candidates Nuon Vuthy and Uch Sereyyuth said Hun To ordered his bodyguards to assault them.
Hun To has denied the accusation, and on Monday he asked the Kandal court to investigate the two men for defamation.
The alleged assault occurred during the campaign to the national election, when the two lawmakers say they were attacked by Hun To's bodyguards after they drove their vehicle off the ferry.
Nuon Vuthy said bodyguards Hun To's bodyguards punched him in the head and kicked Uch Sereyyuth after a confrontation on the ferry.
"If the court works at its procedure and is not under pressure from a powerful man, it would find the truth after it investigates," Nuon Vuthy said.
Kandal court prosecutor Ouk Kimsith confirmed receipt of the complaint.
"I have not taken any measures yet," he said.
He had also received a complaint from the two Sam Rainsy Party lawmakers of the assault and had referred that case to deputy prosecutor Koeurt Vannareth.
Hun To's lawyer, Yin Wengka, said Friday he had filed the complaint Monday.
"These two men defamed my client," he said. "What they said is not true. At that time, no bodyguard went with Hun To. At that time Hun To took one car with three people, traveling to Kampong Cham."
According to Cambodian law, defamation charges do not carry penalties of imprisonment, but do carry fines. Assaults can lead to a sentence of one to five years in prison.
Friday, August 22, 2008
JOEL BRINKLEY: The world leader in corruption is - Cambodia
The Cambodian godfather (center) and his familyAugust 21, 2008
Joel Brinkley
Modesto Bee (California USA)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Hun Chea, a nephew of Cambodia's prime minster, was speeding along a busy downtown street a few days ago when he ran down a man on a motorbike.
Phnom Penh's streets are teeming with motorbikes, hundreds of them, criss-crossing busy traffic without seeming to look or care where they are going. Collisions are inevitable. But that's not the point of this story.
Hun was tearing down the street at high speed when he hit the biker, witnesses reported, and his car ripped off an arm and a leg. The biker, Sam Sabo, was killed. Hun began to drive off, but running over the motorbike had shredded a tire. He had to pull over, so there he sat in his big black Cadillac Escalade SUV.
Now, listen to how the Phnom Penh Post newspaper described the events that followed.
"Numerous traffic police were seen avoiding the accident scene, but armed military police arrived. They removed the SUV's license plates and comforted Hun Chea" while Sam Sabo lay bleeding to death in the street. A military policeman was overheard telling Hun: "'Don't worry. It wasn't your mistake. It was the motorbike driver's mistake.'" A few days later, Hun gave the dead man's family $4,000 in hush money, the paper reported. Case closed.
It's no secret that Cambodia is thoroughly corrupt. As an indirect result, the rich and the powerful can commit, well, murder and face few if any repercussions.
A primary rule of foreign correspondence is to avoid applying the values of your own country on the nation you are covering. But then, some events appear so outrageous that the rule does not apply. Police actually removed the car's license plates, to conceal the driver's identity? So I asked Khieu Kanarith, Cambodia's information minister, about the case. He fumbled about for a moment and then explained, "I understand he had his wife in the car, and I don't think he was paying attention to what he was doing." OK, but the police removed the license plates? Khieu had to think about that for a moment but finally managed to say, "You try to cover the plates because it's harder to sell a car if it's been in an accident." As a reporter, sometimes it's hard to keep a straight face. But then, being Cambodia's information minister is a tough job.
Later I asked Joseph Mussomeli, the U.S. ambassador, about this, and he shook his head.
"This goes to the whole culture of impunity here. Who you are, who you know, is more important than following the law. And the police are too intimidated, too deferential, to the wealthy and powerful." Why else would the traffic police assertively avoid the scene of the accident, even with a dying man lying in the street? They knew full well that the owner of a Cadillac Escalade SUV in this exceedingly poor country is quite likely to be well connected.
Impunity is a word that comes up over and over in Cambodia. Last month, two men speeding by on a motorbike shot and killed Khim Sambor and his 21-year-old son as they walked down the street. Khim was a reporter for Khmer Conscience, an opposition newspaper, and not surprisingly the paper had been writing critically about the government.
No one has been arrested. That is true for dozens of apparent contract killings in recent years just like that one. No one has proved that government officials are behind them. But then, why else would the police make no effort to solve any of these crimes? Cambodia has come a long way in the last several years. Phnom Penh is teeming with tourists. The economy is growing. The nation has been stable for more than a decade now, which is no small accomplishment.
Over the years, I have worked in many corrupt states - Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, among others. But in none of them is the corruption so pervasive, even pandemic. Prime Minister Hun Sen just won re-election to a new five-year term. For a decade, the United States and many other countries have been pressing him to pass a comprehensive anti-corruption law. Hun continually promises but never delivers.
Cambodians deserve better. If Cambodia hopes to join the ranks of the world's prosperous and respected nations, it must enact - and enforce - an anti-corruption law. With that, in time, the shiny mantle of impunity resting softly on the shoulders of the rich and well-connected will begin to fall away.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Joel Brinkley is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times and now a professor of journalism at Stanford University. Readers may send him e-mail at: brinkley@foreign-matters.com
Phnom Penh's streets are teeming with motorbikes, hundreds of them, criss-crossing busy traffic without seeming to look or care where they are going. Collisions are inevitable. But that's not the point of this story.
Hun was tearing down the street at high speed when he hit the biker, witnesses reported, and his car ripped off an arm and a leg. The biker, Sam Sabo, was killed. Hun began to drive off, but running over the motorbike had shredded a tire. He had to pull over, so there he sat in his big black Cadillac Escalade SUV.
Now, listen to how the Phnom Penh Post newspaper described the events that followed.
"Numerous traffic police were seen avoiding the accident scene, but armed military police arrived. They removed the SUV's license plates and comforted Hun Chea" while Sam Sabo lay bleeding to death in the street. A military policeman was overheard telling Hun: "'Don't worry. It wasn't your mistake. It was the motorbike driver's mistake.'" A few days later, Hun gave the dead man's family $4,000 in hush money, the paper reported. Case closed.
It's no secret that Cambodia is thoroughly corrupt. As an indirect result, the rich and the powerful can commit, well, murder and face few if any repercussions.
A primary rule of foreign correspondence is to avoid applying the values of your own country on the nation you are covering. But then, some events appear so outrageous that the rule does not apply. Police actually removed the car's license plates, to conceal the driver's identity? So I asked Khieu Kanarith, Cambodia's information minister, about the case. He fumbled about for a moment and then explained, "I understand he had his wife in the car, and I don't think he was paying attention to what he was doing." OK, but the police removed the license plates? Khieu had to think about that for a moment but finally managed to say, "You try to cover the plates because it's harder to sell a car if it's been in an accident." As a reporter, sometimes it's hard to keep a straight face. But then, being Cambodia's information minister is a tough job.
Later I asked Joseph Mussomeli, the U.S. ambassador, about this, and he shook his head.
"This goes to the whole culture of impunity here. Who you are, who you know, is more important than following the law. And the police are too intimidated, too deferential, to the wealthy and powerful." Why else would the traffic police assertively avoid the scene of the accident, even with a dying man lying in the street? They knew full well that the owner of a Cadillac Escalade SUV in this exceedingly poor country is quite likely to be well connected.
Impunity is a word that comes up over and over in Cambodia. Last month, two men speeding by on a motorbike shot and killed Khim Sambor and his 21-year-old son as they walked down the street. Khim was a reporter for Khmer Conscience, an opposition newspaper, and not surprisingly the paper had been writing critically about the government.
No one has been arrested. That is true for dozens of apparent contract killings in recent years just like that one. No one has proved that government officials are behind them. But then, why else would the police make no effort to solve any of these crimes? Cambodia has come a long way in the last several years. Phnom Penh is teeming with tourists. The economy is growing. The nation has been stable for more than a decade now, which is no small accomplishment.
Over the years, I have worked in many corrupt states - Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, among others. But in none of them is the corruption so pervasive, even pandemic. Prime Minister Hun Sen just won re-election to a new five-year term. For a decade, the United States and many other countries have been pressing him to pass a comprehensive anti-corruption law. Hun continually promises but never delivers.
Cambodians deserve better. If Cambodia hopes to join the ranks of the world's prosperous and respected nations, it must enact - and enforce - an anti-corruption law. With that, in time, the shiny mantle of impunity resting softly on the shoulders of the rich and well-connected will begin to fall away.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Joel Brinkley is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times and now a professor of journalism at Stanford University. Readers may send him e-mail at: brinkley@foreign-matters.com
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Cambodia PM Severs Ties to Gay Daughter [-Hun Sen claims he is not discriminating gays but he did all he can to disown his lesbian adopted daughter]
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian's prime minister said Tuesday he was severing ties with his adopted daughter, who is a lesbian, but appealed to people not to discriminate against gays."My adopted daughter now has a wife. I'm quite disappointed," Hun Sen said.
He made the rare revelation about his closely guarded family life during a public speech at a student graduation ceremony.
Hun Sen said he plans to file a civil court case to disown his adopted daughter so that she cannot claim any inheritance from his family.
"We are concerned that she might one day cause us trouble ... and try to stake her claim for a share of our assets," he said.
The prime minister and his wife Bun Rany have three sons and two other daughters. He said they adopted their third daughter in the mid 80's when she was 18 days old. She has carried his family name "Hun" just like his biological children. Hun Sen did not reveal her given name.
Although he is cutting ties with her, Hun Sen said he was not discriminating against gays and appealed to society to show respect for them.
Sam Vuthy, coordinator of Women's Agenda for Change, a nonprofit Cambodian group advocating gay rights, declined to comment on Hun Sen's decision regarding his daughter but applauded his appeal not to discriminate against gays.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Cambodia: Logging abuse
Activists and journalists who exposed eco-scandal under threat.
29.06.2007
By Andrew Wasley
Index on Censorship for free expression
29.06.2007
By Andrew Wasley
Index on Censorship for free expression
Journalists and campaigners working to expose an environmental scandal in Cambodia are under threat from the political and business interests with most to lose from their investigations. Andrew Wasley reports.
Journalists and environmental activists investigating deforestation in Cambodia are facing harassment, death threats and censorship after a report accused senior officials within the country's government of involvement in illegal logging, kidnapping and attempted murder.
In Cambodia's Family Trees UK-based campaign group Global Witness claims that leading figures in Cambodia's government - including relatives of Prime Minster Hun Sen - are complicit in destroying large swathes of the country's remaining forests and is calling for international donors to conduct a thorough inquiry into the activities of this 'forest mafiosi' before pledging future development money.
The Cambodian authorities responded to the report's allegations by banning its publication inside the country, threatening Global Witness campaigners and harassing journalists reporting on the story.
The prime minister's brother directly threatened Global Witness earlier this month, stating, ‘if they … come to Cambodia I will hit them until their heads are broken’. Copies of the investigative report have subsequently been confiscated in Phnom Penh and several journalists targeted for covering the story.
Lem Piseth, a reporter with Radio Free Asia, received an anonymous death threat by mobile telephone after producing a piece looking at deforestation in the Kompong Thom province in central Cambodia. The caller accused Piseth of being insolent and asked if he ‘wanted to die’ before stating that there ‘will not be enough land to bury you in’.
The journalist also claimed that whilst researching the story, he was followed by police and the military and was unexpectedly forced to leave a hotel by its owners, who provided no explanation. Piseth, fearing for his life following the death threat, has now fled to Thailand.
Soren Seelow, news editor with the French language daily Cambodge Soir, also suffered after publishing extracts of the Global Witness report in an article highlighting the pressure group's findings. Seelow was summarily dismissed by the paper's owners who claimed the article would upset the authorities and put them in a difficult position.
Employees on the newspaper subsequently went on strike in protest at Seelow's removal, and have now been told the newspaper faces closure.
The worldwide press freedom organisation Reporters sans Frontières commented: ‘It is obvious that the Global Witness report on the over-exploitation of the Cambodian forests is upsetting some people. Since this report was released, all media have been subjected to unjustified state censorship... and we urge the authorities to identify those who made threats (to Lem Piseth) so he can safely resume his work.’
The report alleges that one of the most powerful logging syndicates in the country is the Seng Keang Company, allegedly controlled by the prime minister’s cousin Dy Chouch; his ex-wife Seng Keang; her brother Seng Kok Keang; the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Chan Sarun; and, director-general of the Forest Administration, Ty Sokhun.
Under the guise of a rubber plantation scheme, the syndicate is accused of logging timber from the Prey Long forest. The targeting of resin trees has also destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds, if not thousands, of families living in the area, states the report .
Global Witness also claims that the company attempted to kill two community forest activists who had protested against illegal logging in Prey Long. It is alleged that the elite army unit, known as the Brigade 70, which reportedly has close connections to senior politicians, including the prime minister, has transported illegally logged timber and other smuggled goods.
Environmentalists and human rights pressure groups are now calling on a ‘complacent’ international donor community to launch their own inquiry into the allegations - and support the prosecution of those involved. Failure to do so, argue campaigners, will effectively mean that international money will continue to be fed into a corrupt regime and ultimately offer little benefit to Cambodia's impoverished people.
It is not the first time the Cambodian authorities have attempted to stifle the findings of Global Witness. In 2005, copies of a previous report Taking A Cut were confiscated by customs officials at Pochentong Airport; in 2002 a senior Global Witness campaigner was beaten by a gang of masked men armed with sticks in Phnom Penh. Prior to this, activists had received threats by email from forest concession security staff.
Illegal logging, in Cambodia and across the world, is big business and frequently linked to organised crime and corrupt government officials.
Index on Censorship previously revealed the dangers facing journalists and activists reporting on environmental abuses (‘Dangers lurking in the forests’, 2002) following a brutal attack on an Indonesian reporter, Arbi Kusno, investigating logging issues. Kusno was attacked by thugs armed with machetes and was so badly injured he was presumed dead, only waking up en-route to the morgue.
Journalists and environmental activists investigating deforestation in Cambodia are facing harassment, death threats and censorship after a report accused senior officials within the country's government of involvement in illegal logging, kidnapping and attempted murder.
In Cambodia's Family Trees UK-based campaign group Global Witness claims that leading figures in Cambodia's government - including relatives of Prime Minster Hun Sen - are complicit in destroying large swathes of the country's remaining forests and is calling for international donors to conduct a thorough inquiry into the activities of this 'forest mafiosi' before pledging future development money.
The Cambodian authorities responded to the report's allegations by banning its publication inside the country, threatening Global Witness campaigners and harassing journalists reporting on the story.
The prime minister's brother directly threatened Global Witness earlier this month, stating, ‘if they … come to Cambodia I will hit them until their heads are broken’. Copies of the investigative report have subsequently been confiscated in Phnom Penh and several journalists targeted for covering the story.
Lem Piseth, a reporter with Radio Free Asia, received an anonymous death threat by mobile telephone after producing a piece looking at deforestation in the Kompong Thom province in central Cambodia. The caller accused Piseth of being insolent and asked if he ‘wanted to die’ before stating that there ‘will not be enough land to bury you in’.
The journalist also claimed that whilst researching the story, he was followed by police and the military and was unexpectedly forced to leave a hotel by its owners, who provided no explanation. Piseth, fearing for his life following the death threat, has now fled to Thailand.
Soren Seelow, news editor with the French language daily Cambodge Soir, also suffered after publishing extracts of the Global Witness report in an article highlighting the pressure group's findings. Seelow was summarily dismissed by the paper's owners who claimed the article would upset the authorities and put them in a difficult position.
Employees on the newspaper subsequently went on strike in protest at Seelow's removal, and have now been told the newspaper faces closure.
The worldwide press freedom organisation Reporters sans Frontières commented: ‘It is obvious that the Global Witness report on the over-exploitation of the Cambodian forests is upsetting some people. Since this report was released, all media have been subjected to unjustified state censorship... and we urge the authorities to identify those who made threats (to Lem Piseth) so he can safely resume his work.’
The report alleges that one of the most powerful logging syndicates in the country is the Seng Keang Company, allegedly controlled by the prime minister’s cousin Dy Chouch; his ex-wife Seng Keang; her brother Seng Kok Keang; the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Chan Sarun; and, director-general of the Forest Administration, Ty Sokhun.
Under the guise of a rubber plantation scheme, the syndicate is accused of logging timber from the Prey Long forest. The targeting of resin trees has also destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds, if not thousands, of families living in the area, states the report .
Global Witness also claims that the company attempted to kill two community forest activists who had protested against illegal logging in Prey Long. It is alleged that the elite army unit, known as the Brigade 70, which reportedly has close connections to senior politicians, including the prime minister, has transported illegally logged timber and other smuggled goods.
Environmentalists and human rights pressure groups are now calling on a ‘complacent’ international donor community to launch their own inquiry into the allegations - and support the prosecution of those involved. Failure to do so, argue campaigners, will effectively mean that international money will continue to be fed into a corrupt regime and ultimately offer little benefit to Cambodia's impoverished people.
It is not the first time the Cambodian authorities have attempted to stifle the findings of Global Witness. In 2005, copies of a previous report Taking A Cut were confiscated by customs officials at Pochentong Airport; in 2002 a senior Global Witness campaigner was beaten by a gang of masked men armed with sticks in Phnom Penh. Prior to this, activists had received threats by email from forest concession security staff.
Illegal logging, in Cambodia and across the world, is big business and frequently linked to organised crime and corrupt government officials.
Index on Censorship previously revealed the dangers facing journalists and activists reporting on environmental abuses (‘Dangers lurking in the forests’, 2002) following a brutal attack on an Indonesian reporter, Arbi Kusno, investigating logging issues. Kusno was attacked by thugs armed with machetes and was so badly injured he was presumed dead, only waking up en-route to the morgue.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Global Witness: Legitimate land concessions are being used as a cover for criminal activity
Swathes of Cambodia's rainforests have been lost to loggingFriday, 1 June 2007
Cambodia elite 'stripping jungle'
BBC News
Top officials in Cambodia are involved in illegal logging and helping to strip the nation of its natural assets, an international watchdog has said.
Global Witness claims that legitimate land concessions are being used as a cover for criminal activity.
The London-based organisation has also accused international donors of failing to act to stop the trade.
The Cambodian authorities, as well as officials named in the report, have dismissed the allegations.
Forestry Administration director Ty Sokhun, one of the officials accused, described Global Witness as "insane, unprofessional people" with no knowledge of forestry.
A company director also named in the report described the charges as "unacceptable".
'Ransacked forests'
Global Witness accuses ministers, business people and relatives closely linked to Prime Minister Hun Sen, as well as the military and police, of involvement in the alleged asset stripping.
The non-governmental organisation said that "legally dubious" permits for plantation developments and harvests are being handed out to a small group of people close to senior politicians.
Valuable, high-quality timber is being described as firewood to avoid detection and taxation, the group goes on.
"Logging is part of a massive asset stripping for the benefit of a small kleptocratic elite," Simon Taylor, Global Witness director, said.
"The forests of Cambodia have been ransacked over the past decade by this mafia with little or no benefit flowing down to the ordinary people," he added.
The 95-page report comes ahead of a meeting of international donors to discuss future aid to Cambodia.
"If Cambodia's donors want the country's natural resources to be managed in a way which benefits the Cambodian people, then they must confront the high-level corruption which allows [these groups] to operate," Mr Taylor said.
Global Witness used to act as the Cambodian government's official forestry monitor, but was expelled from the country a few years ago after relations between the two sides deteriorated.
Global Witness claims that legitimate land concessions are being used as a cover for criminal activity.
The London-based organisation has also accused international donors of failing to act to stop the trade.
The Cambodian authorities, as well as officials named in the report, have dismissed the allegations.
Forestry Administration director Ty Sokhun, one of the officials accused, described Global Witness as "insane, unprofessional people" with no knowledge of forestry.
A company director also named in the report described the charges as "unacceptable".
'Ransacked forests'
Global Witness accuses ministers, business people and relatives closely linked to Prime Minister Hun Sen, as well as the military and police, of involvement in the alleged asset stripping.
The non-governmental organisation said that "legally dubious" permits for plantation developments and harvests are being handed out to a small group of people close to senior politicians.
Valuable, high-quality timber is being described as firewood to avoid detection and taxation, the group goes on.
"Logging is part of a massive asset stripping for the benefit of a small kleptocratic elite," Simon Taylor, Global Witness director, said.
"The forests of Cambodia have been ransacked over the past decade by this mafia with little or no benefit flowing down to the ordinary people," he added.
The 95-page report comes ahead of a meeting of international donors to discuss future aid to Cambodia.
"If Cambodia's donors want the country's natural resources to be managed in a way which benefits the Cambodian people, then they must confront the high-level corruption which allows [these groups] to operate," Mr Taylor said.
Global Witness used to act as the Cambodian government's official forestry monitor, but was expelled from the country a few years ago after relations between the two sides deteriorated.
In Cambodia, Timber Trade Comes Under Fire
Friday, June 1, 2007By JAMES HOOKWAY
The Wall Street Journal
With international concern growing over whether Cambodia's newly found oil reserves will add fuel to the corruption plaguing the country's economy, the U.K.-based advocacy group Global Witness is set to publish a report on the way the impoverished nation's ruling elite is allegedly stripping the country of a key natural resource -- its forests.
After a three-year investigation, Global Witness says it found evidence that relatives and associates of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen run an extensive, illegal logging syndicate that reaps millions of dollars a year shipping timber to buyers in China and elsewhere.
The operation is aided by the country's police and armed forces and is encouraged by the complacency of Cambodia's many international donors, the report alleges. The report, which was to be released Friday, draws on interviews, observations in the field and documents -- including corporate correspondence and contracts.
"Cambodia is run by a kleptocratic elite that generates much of its wealth via the seizure of public assets, particularly natural resources," the report alleges. "The forest sector provides a particularly vivid illustration of this asset-stripping process at work."
Neither Mr. Hun Sen's office nor a Cambodian government representative responded to written requests for comment on the Global Witness allegations. Efforts to contact the officials by phone were also unsuccessful.
Global Witness was founded in 1993 to highlight the link between the exploitation of natural resources and corruption, conflict and human-rights abuses. Since then it has exposed the trade in conflict diamonds and the illegal logging trade in Africa and elsewhere.
The report comes at a time when Cambodia is expecting the proceeds of oil exploration in its territorial waters. Chevron Corp. in 2005 discovered oil reserves off Cambodia's coast and is continuing to drill in the area. The government hopes to see the first revenue flows in 2010. Other international energy companies are also planning to search for oil reserves. It is unclear how much oil might lie off the country's coast.
Mr. Hun Sen, the country's autocratic prime minister since 1993, has said Cambodia will use the proceeds from the oil wisely. He says the country won't fall victim to the so-called oil curse that has retarded economic development in other poor but oil-rich nations, such as Nigeria, where oil revenue has enriched the country's elite while leaving the majority of its people mired in poverty.
But development economists warn that Cambodia, where power is concentrated in the hands of a relatively few people and where legal and other public institutions are ill-equipped to offset their influence, could follow a similar path.
"We thank our foreign friends for their concerns about oil -- they do not need to worry," Mr. Hun Sen said last month.
In its Cambodia report, Global Witness specifically accuses politically connected loggers of illegally felling timber in the Prey Long Forest, cutting down thousands of resin-bearing trees that local villagers depend on for a living, and exporting plywood valued at millions of dollars to China without paying taxes on the transactions. These are all offenses under Cambodian law.
The report didn't offer a specific estimate of the amount of timber shipped, but it calculated that between 2003 and 2007, timber valued at about $34 million was exported to China, without payment of any taxes or duties to the Cambodian government.
The report also alleges that a military unit known as Brigade 70, which bolsters Mr. Hun Sen's own bodyguard unit, runs an illegal logging-and-smuggling business that generates between $2 million and $2.75 million a year.
Global Witness contends that Cambodia's international aid donors are failing to use their influence to put a stop to the alleged illegal trade in timber. Wealthy nations together send about $600 million a year to Cambodia, which is equivalent to approximately half its national budget.
After years of civil war and the brutal regime of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia is still coming to terms with its past, and multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, United Nations and various nongovernmental organizations play a prominent role in the country. Yet, the Global Witness report says, "donor support has failed to produce reforms that would make the government more accountable to its citizens. Instead, the government is successfully exploiting international aid as a source of political legitimacy."
The report's release is timed partially with an eye on a donor meeting in Phnom Penh on June 19 and 20, where representatives from donor nations and agencies will gather to discuss their aid programs for Cambodia.
Corruption is endemic in the mostly agrarian nation of 14 million people, of whom 35% survive on less than half a dollar a day. In 2006, the World Bank suspended $7.6 million in funding for three corruption-plagued projects and demanded that misused funds be repaid.
Write to James Hookway at james.hookway@awsj.com
After a three-year investigation, Global Witness says it found evidence that relatives and associates of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen run an extensive, illegal logging syndicate that reaps millions of dollars a year shipping timber to buyers in China and elsewhere.
The operation is aided by the country's police and armed forces and is encouraged by the complacency of Cambodia's many international donors, the report alleges. The report, which was to be released Friday, draws on interviews, observations in the field and documents -- including corporate correspondence and contracts.
"Cambodia is run by a kleptocratic elite that generates much of its wealth via the seizure of public assets, particularly natural resources," the report alleges. "The forest sector provides a particularly vivid illustration of this asset-stripping process at work."
Neither Mr. Hun Sen's office nor a Cambodian government representative responded to written requests for comment on the Global Witness allegations. Efforts to contact the officials by phone were also unsuccessful.
Global Witness was founded in 1993 to highlight the link between the exploitation of natural resources and corruption, conflict and human-rights abuses. Since then it has exposed the trade in conflict diamonds and the illegal logging trade in Africa and elsewhere.
The report comes at a time when Cambodia is expecting the proceeds of oil exploration in its territorial waters. Chevron Corp. in 2005 discovered oil reserves off Cambodia's coast and is continuing to drill in the area. The government hopes to see the first revenue flows in 2010. Other international energy companies are also planning to search for oil reserves. It is unclear how much oil might lie off the country's coast.
Mr. Hun Sen, the country's autocratic prime minister since 1993, has said Cambodia will use the proceeds from the oil wisely. He says the country won't fall victim to the so-called oil curse that has retarded economic development in other poor but oil-rich nations, such as Nigeria, where oil revenue has enriched the country's elite while leaving the majority of its people mired in poverty.
But development economists warn that Cambodia, where power is concentrated in the hands of a relatively few people and where legal and other public institutions are ill-equipped to offset their influence, could follow a similar path.
"We thank our foreign friends for their concerns about oil -- they do not need to worry," Mr. Hun Sen said last month.
In its Cambodia report, Global Witness specifically accuses politically connected loggers of illegally felling timber in the Prey Long Forest, cutting down thousands of resin-bearing trees that local villagers depend on for a living, and exporting plywood valued at millions of dollars to China without paying taxes on the transactions. These are all offenses under Cambodian law.
The report didn't offer a specific estimate of the amount of timber shipped, but it calculated that between 2003 and 2007, timber valued at about $34 million was exported to China, without payment of any taxes or duties to the Cambodian government.
The report also alleges that a military unit known as Brigade 70, which bolsters Mr. Hun Sen's own bodyguard unit, runs an illegal logging-and-smuggling business that generates between $2 million and $2.75 million a year.
Global Witness contends that Cambodia's international aid donors are failing to use their influence to put a stop to the alleged illegal trade in timber. Wealthy nations together send about $600 million a year to Cambodia, which is equivalent to approximately half its national budget.
After years of civil war and the brutal regime of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia is still coming to terms with its past, and multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, United Nations and various nongovernmental organizations play a prominent role in the country. Yet, the Global Witness report says, "donor support has failed to produce reforms that would make the government more accountable to its citizens. Instead, the government is successfully exploiting international aid as a source of political legitimacy."
The report's release is timed partially with an eye on a donor meeting in Phnom Penh on June 19 and 20, where representatives from donor nations and agencies will gather to discuss their aid programs for Cambodia.
Corruption is endemic in the mostly agrarian nation of 14 million people, of whom 35% survive on less than half a dollar a day. In 2006, the World Bank suspended $7.6 million in funding for three corruption-plagued projects and demanded that misused funds be repaid.
Write to James Hookway at james.hookway@awsj.com
Cambodia's elite stripping last forests while foreign donors do little, NGO claims
Thursday, May 31, 2007
The Associated Press
The Associated Press
BANGKOK, Thailand: Senior government officials and tycoons in Cambodia, including relatives of the prime minister, are illegally felling some of the country's last, once-great forests while international donors who bankroll the impoverished nation do virtually nothing to stop the plunder, a non-governmental organization said Friday.
"Logging is part of a massive asset stripping for the benefit of a small kleptocratic elite," said Simon Taylor, director of the London-based Global Witness, referring to powerful businessmen, senior military and police officers and ministers closely linked to Prime Minister Hun Sen.
"The forests of Cambodia have been ransacked over the past decade by this mafia with little or no benefit flowing down to the ordinary people," Taylor said in an interview before the release of a 95-page report detailing massive corruption and illegal logging which continues under the eyes of foreign donors who annually provide some US$600 million (€446 million) in aid — equivalent to about half the national budget.
Taylor said the destruction has further impoverished Cambodia's already hard-pressed rural people by depriving them of forest products, including food and medicines, as well as vital water sources.
Two individuals cited in the report as among the kingpins denied all wrongdoing, while the government spokesman, Khieu Kanharith, provided with a copy of the report, did not respond despite numerous attempts to reach him.
The aid-giving Consultative Group on Cambodia, which includes Australia, the European Union, Japan, the United States and the World Bank, has over the years voiced concern over Cambodia's forestry sector. But non-governmental groups like Global Witness say the group has applied little pressure on the regime to institute genuine reform despite the leverage they could exercise.
Hun Sen has made promises, normally before the aid givers gather, and strident verbal attacks against foreign critics of Cambodia's record on logging as well as human rights and corruption. The next group meeting is scheduled for late June.
"The donors have failed. They are basically spineless. The message that Hun Sen gets from the donors is that they don't really give a damn," Taylor said.
He said the only hope for Cambodia's remaining forests would be for the international community to make tough demands, and speak with one voice.
Under criticism, the government in 2002 suspended widespread logging concessions to foreign and local companies which had blatantly raped the forests.
But these, the report says, have simply been replaced by devious ways to continue illegal felling, including "economic land concessions" under which forests are cut down to make way for plantations and the timber sold in contravention of a 2001 law. Permits and licenses are illegally issued by government officials to cronies, while the armed forces "have kept up an assault on the country's forests that does not even pretend to be legitimate," the report says.
Brigade 70, the reserve force for Hun Sen's personal bodyguard unit, is also the country's timber transport and trafficking service, according to Global Witness, which has monitored Cambodia's forests for the past 12 years and was expelled from the country in 2005.
The most powerful logging syndicate is headed by Dy Chouch, the prime minister's first cousin. He, along with his ex-wife Seng Keang, an intimate friend of the Hun Sen family, and her brother Seng Kok Keang, runs a company which Global Witness says is illegally taking timber by the truck loads from Prey Long under the guise of a rubber plantation development scheme.
Prey Long, located in the central province of Kompong Thom, is the largest remaining lowland evergreen forest in mainland Southeast Asia and home to endangered wildlife, including elephant, gaur, tiger and the Asiatic black bear.
The land was awarded to Seng Keang Company by Minister of Agriculture Chan Sarun, brother-in-law of one of the company's business partners who is related to Ty Sokun, director-general of the Forestry Administration and an adviser to Hun Sen.
Ty Sokun described Global Witness staffers as "insane, unprofessional people" with no knowledge of forestry, and said their report was deceptive. He said Cambodia has increased its forest cover in recent years.
However, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the country lost 29 percent of its primary tropical forests between 2000 and 2005, and most foreign experts agree that the loss continues at an alarming rate.
Seng Kok Heang said his company had legal permits to cut and transport logs out of Prey Long, having won a concession from the government to turn 6,200 hectares (15,320 acres) hectares into a rubber plantation. He said the also dismissing Global Witness allegations that accusations against him were "unacceptable,"he attempted to kill two community forest activist who had protested illegal logging in Prey Long.
___
Reporters Ker Munthit and Cheang Sopheng in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, contributed to this report.
"Logging is part of a massive asset stripping for the benefit of a small kleptocratic elite," said Simon Taylor, director of the London-based Global Witness, referring to powerful businessmen, senior military and police officers and ministers closely linked to Prime Minister Hun Sen.
"The forests of Cambodia have been ransacked over the past decade by this mafia with little or no benefit flowing down to the ordinary people," Taylor said in an interview before the release of a 95-page report detailing massive corruption and illegal logging which continues under the eyes of foreign donors who annually provide some US$600 million (€446 million) in aid — equivalent to about half the national budget.
Taylor said the destruction has further impoverished Cambodia's already hard-pressed rural people by depriving them of forest products, including food and medicines, as well as vital water sources.
Two individuals cited in the report as among the kingpins denied all wrongdoing, while the government spokesman, Khieu Kanharith, provided with a copy of the report, did not respond despite numerous attempts to reach him.
The aid-giving Consultative Group on Cambodia, which includes Australia, the European Union, Japan, the United States and the World Bank, has over the years voiced concern over Cambodia's forestry sector. But non-governmental groups like Global Witness say the group has applied little pressure on the regime to institute genuine reform despite the leverage they could exercise.
Hun Sen has made promises, normally before the aid givers gather, and strident verbal attacks against foreign critics of Cambodia's record on logging as well as human rights and corruption. The next group meeting is scheduled for late June.
"The donors have failed. They are basically spineless. The message that Hun Sen gets from the donors is that they don't really give a damn," Taylor said.
He said the only hope for Cambodia's remaining forests would be for the international community to make tough demands, and speak with one voice.
Under criticism, the government in 2002 suspended widespread logging concessions to foreign and local companies which had blatantly raped the forests.
But these, the report says, have simply been replaced by devious ways to continue illegal felling, including "economic land concessions" under which forests are cut down to make way for plantations and the timber sold in contravention of a 2001 law. Permits and licenses are illegally issued by government officials to cronies, while the armed forces "have kept up an assault on the country's forests that does not even pretend to be legitimate," the report says.
Brigade 70, the reserve force for Hun Sen's personal bodyguard unit, is also the country's timber transport and trafficking service, according to Global Witness, which has monitored Cambodia's forests for the past 12 years and was expelled from the country in 2005.
The most powerful logging syndicate is headed by Dy Chouch, the prime minister's first cousin. He, along with his ex-wife Seng Keang, an intimate friend of the Hun Sen family, and her brother Seng Kok Keang, runs a company which Global Witness says is illegally taking timber by the truck loads from Prey Long under the guise of a rubber plantation development scheme.
Prey Long, located in the central province of Kompong Thom, is the largest remaining lowland evergreen forest in mainland Southeast Asia and home to endangered wildlife, including elephant, gaur, tiger and the Asiatic black bear.
The land was awarded to Seng Keang Company by Minister of Agriculture Chan Sarun, brother-in-law of one of the company's business partners who is related to Ty Sokun, director-general of the Forestry Administration and an adviser to Hun Sen.
Ty Sokun described Global Witness staffers as "insane, unprofessional people" with no knowledge of forestry, and said their report was deceptive. He said Cambodia has increased its forest cover in recent years.
However, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the country lost 29 percent of its primary tropical forests between 2000 and 2005, and most foreign experts agree that the loss continues at an alarming rate.
Seng Kok Heang said his company had legal permits to cut and transport logs out of Prey Long, having won a concession from the government to turn 6,200 hectares (15,320 acres) hectares into a rubber plantation. He said the also dismissing Global Witness allegations that accusations against him were "unacceptable,"he attempted to kill two community forest activist who had protested illegal logging in Prey Long.
___
Reporters Ker Munthit and Cheang Sopheng in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, contributed to this report.
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