រដ្ឋាភិបាល​អាច​បង្ហាញ​តម្លាភាព​អំពី​ប្រេង​សាំង​បាន​ទេ? - Can the gov't display transparency in gasoline price?

លោក គាត ឈន់​ នៅ​ក្នុង​ពិធី​មួយ​ កាល​ពី​ខែ​មុន​។ រូបថត ផា លីណា​

Tuesday, 03 April 2012 13:44
កាន់ វិរៈ
Letter to The Phnom Penh Post

ជូន​ចំពោះ​លោក​ចាងហ្វាង និង​លោក​និពន្ធ​នាយក

ថ្មីៗ​នេះ ខ្ញុំ​ឮ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល ជា​ពិសេស​ លោក គាត ឈន់ រដ្ឋ​មន្ត្រី​ក្រសួង​សេដ្ឋកិច្ច និង​ហិរញ្ញ​វត្ថុ បាន​មាន​ប្រសាសន៍​ថា រដ្ឋាភិបាល​បាន​ឧបត្ថម្ភ​ពន្ធ លើ​ការ​នាំ​ចូល​ប្រេង​ក្នុង​ឆ្នាំ ២០១១ ចំនួន​ជាង ២០០ លាន​ដុល្លារ​ សម្រាប់​ប្រេង​ដែល​នាំ​ចូល​ជាង ១​ លាន​ម៉ែត្រ​គូប (តែ​បើ​គណនា​តាម​ចំនួន​មធ្យោបាយ​ធ្វើ​ដំណើរ និង​មធ្យោបាយ​ឧស្សាហកម្ម សេវាកម្ម កសិកម្ម​គ្រប់​ប្រភេទ ឃើញ​ថា​ តម្រូវការ​ប្រេង​នៅ​កម្ពុជា​ មិន​តិច​ជាង ២ លាន​ម៉ែត្រ​គូប​ទេ ក្នុង​មួយ​ឆ្នាំ) ប៉ុន្តែ​បើ​ដូច្នោះ​មែន​ ដើម្បី​តម្លាភាព តើ​លោក​ គាត ឈន់​ ឬ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល អាច​បង្ហាញ​បាន​ទេ​ នូវ​តួ​លេខ​ជា​ផ្លូវ​ការណ៍ ថា​តើ​ខែ​ណា​ នាំ​ចូល​ប៉ុន្មាន ខែ​ណា​នាំ​ចូល​ប៉ុន្មាន​ និង​សូម​បង្ហាញ​ផង តើ​សាំង ១​ គូប​ មាន​ចំនួន​ប៉ុន្មាន​លីត្រ ១ ​គូប​ បង់​ពន្ធ​ប៉ុន្មាន បន្ទាប់​មក​ឧបត្ថម្ភ​ពន្ធ​ដែល​លោក​ថា អស់​ជាង ២០០​លាន​ដុល្លារ​នោះ​ តើ​រដ្ឋ​នៅ​សល់​ប៉ុន្មាន​?

សព្វ​ថ្ងៃ​នេះ​នៅ​ពេល​ដែល​ប្រេង​ឡើង​ថ្លៃ ហើយ​ត្រូវ​ប្រជាជន​រិះ​គន់ គេ​តែង​តែ​ឃើញ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​ចេញ​មុខ​អះអាង​ថា​រដ្ឋ​ឧបត្ថម្ភ​ពន្ធ ជា​និច្ច។ ឧបត្ថម្ភពន្ធ​ហើយ​នៅ​ថ្លៃ​បុណ្ណឹង ចុះ​ទម្រាំ​តែ​មិន​ឧបត្ថម្ភ​ទៀត​នោះ តើ​ប្រេង​និង​ឡើង​ថ្លៃ​ដល់​កម្រិត​ណា?

Freedom of Information Law Needed: Parliamentarian

Son Chhay is a member of parliament of Sam Rainsy Party in Cambodia. (Photo: VOA Khmer)

Monday, 13 February 2012
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC

“Without this law, the government has always classified every document, and every decision on national affairs is secret.”

Click the control below to listen to the audio program:

Click here to download the audio program in MP3

Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay told “Hello VOA” Thursday that people lack freedom of information to evaluate government policies. The development of natural resources or the spending of ministries are not open to the public, he said.

“The government has sold and managed the nation secretly,” he said. “What we call in simple language, acting in darkness. That’s why it causes huge impacts to the national interest.”

Son Chhay is drafting a bill to provide freedom of information that he hopes to put before the National Assembly soon.

Openness can help lift the curse of resources

March 3 2011
By George Soros
Financial Times

The natural resources sector has the potential to generate billions of dollars in revenues that can be used for poverty reduction and sound investment. For decades, however, management secrecy has allowed corruption to thrive in countries such as Angola, Cambodia, and Guinea. According to Nigeria’s own corruption agency, up to $400bn of oil money has been stolen or wasted over the past 50 years. And in Libya, in particular, we now see a population rising against rulers whose control has been financed by the immense revenues they manage, and mismanage, in secret.

Ending this problem and letting new democracies flourish will, of course, not be easy. The resource curse undermines the investment climate, raises costs for companies, threatens energy and mineral security, and consigns millions of citizens in resource-rich countries to poverty. But evidence suggests that transparency in extractive industries can play an important role.

In 2002, I helped to launch the Publish What You Pay coalition, a global network of civil society organisations that has advocated for better management of oil, gas and mining revenues, and worked to ensure monies received are invested in schools, hospitals and poverty reduction. The coalition recruits oil companies, which then pledge to reveal what they pay to the governments and leaders of the states in which they operate, allowing them to be held accountable. In Liberia, this approach has seen moves towards new transparency standards, including openness on payments and contract terms – amazing progress in a country better known for former president Charles Taylor’s macabre violence and blood diamonds.

Little Information Known About Oil, Gas: Survey

Eight years after Chevron found crude oil off Cambodia’s coast, the American company has yet to begin full production. In remarks in April, Prime Minister Hun Sen said he wants the oil giant to begin production by 2012 or risk losing its rights.

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer

Phnom Penh Tuesday, 15 February 2011

“There are few that know where petroleum is being explored, what companies have obtained licenses.”

A new survey suggests that many of Cambodia’s smaller business entrepreneurs are not fully aware of the development of the extractive industry.

The survey, initiated by Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency and issued Tuesday, found that out of 548 companies, most had little knowledge of the sector and that information was lacking in both the media and the business community.

However, observers say development of these resources, especially in oil and gas, will require good management and will affect many businesses.

“There are few that know where petroleum is being explored, what companies have obtained licenses,” said Neou Seiha, who led a survey for the Economic Institute of Cambodia.

Secrecy conference: In countries like Romania and Cambodia, illegal leaks can be transparency’s only hope

Monday, December 20, 2010
By Michael Morisy
Nieman Journalism Lab

While, in the United States, WikiLeaks has caused a furor for its journalism-by-data-dump, similar leaks abroad are a major source of reporting on government operations — occasionally providing the only transparency available, as journalists struggle against secretive governments, corrupt media, and threatened or actual violence. At the first morning panel of the Nieman Foundation’s secrecy and journalism conference, international reporters and editors drew connections and contrasts between the situation here and abroad.

When media is part of the problem

Stefan Candea, a Nieman Fellow and founder of the Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism, was 11 when communist rule collapsed in his home country, ending 50 years of media as propaganda tool. Today, however, the media is still far from being without fear or favor.

“We were told by the chief justice in Massachusetts that a functioning democracy requires a free ballot, free judges, and a free media. We have none of those in Romania,” he said. “The traditional media is not free because it’s run by local oligarchs whose main source of income is working with the state. Their only motivation with owning media is to stay out of jail.” Candea said that one one media owner told his top news management that his company should act like the keys to his limousine: “If you turn the key to the right it should start; if you turn the key to the left it should stop.”

So Candea left Romania’s print world, which he said taught him what not to do, and formed CRJI, which began tracking and exposing the close ties between media, political power and organized crime. But to gather that information, his organization has had to be flexible on its sources. “We don’t refuse access to any databases, whether it’s a hacked database or not, because we have so few sources of information,” he said.

Desperate times, creative measures

In 1993, Cambodia saw its own revolution in the form of free elections, which also ushered in the creation of a free press. But while things were better, newly passed freedom of information laws were almost universally unenforced, according to Kevin Doyle, Nieman Fellow and founder of the Cambodia Daily. After a 1997 grenade attack on peaceful protesters outside the country’ judiciary left 16 dead, officials were widely suspected of encouraging the attacks. Weak freedom-of-information laws, however, meant journalists could do little but question the government’s flat denials. Years passed without any progress on solving the case.

And then the Cambodia Daily got creative: One of Doyle’s staff, based in the United States, suggested a Freedom of Information Act request might yield results, since the FBI had come in to investigate because one of the dead was an American. Two years later, after a long and dogged process, the FBI finally released the files.

“The FBI found witnesses that implicated the state in the attacks, to the point of the police allowing the attackers through a police brigade while those persuing them were stopped,” said Doyle. In a country with so few sources of official information, it was a major coup.

WikiLeaks with a local impact

Well before the current blockbuster leaks made WikiLeaks a household name, the organization made several releases that still had a wide ranging impact. One occurred right in the backyard of Rob Rose, a Nieman Fellow and reporter for South Africa’s Sunday Times.

South Africa had convened a commission to look into banking inequality — a legacy of the country’s apartheid past — but the released report was so redacted as to be almost farcical. WikiLeaks obtained and released the unredacted report, possibly by simply removing the commission’s poorly performed blackouts. The impact was tremendous. “It accelerated change in the banking system, which I thought was a critical event,” said Rose.

Another incident, however, exposed the dangers journalists face when aggressively pursuing leaked stories. World Cup soccer is big business for the host country, but contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars in public money were withheld from the public. Then the Sunday Times received a CD full of the unredacted contracts, exposing contractor and bidding corruption that cost taxpayers millions. But the day before Rose left for his Nieman Fellowship, he said, a colleague was arrested for reporting on the documents.

The prospects for improved press freedom laws in the future aren’t looking bright. “What hasn’t helped is that countries like China have seen huge economic success without a free press,” he said. “China is a huge trading partner of many African countries, and they’ve used the success of China to repeal certain press laws.”

The limits of leaks

But while leaks, even those of dubious legality, are a critical reporting tool throughout the world, they cannot begin to replace solid investigative reporting, Alejandra Matus said.

Matus, a Nieman Fellow last year and a freelance investigative journalist from Chile, spent six years investigating the Chilean court system, hoping to emerge with enough material for a book. “I found myself reporting in the courts where everything was secret,” she said. “The testimonies, the disposition, how they arrived at decisions.”

It was a long, tedious process of showing up to the courthouse, meeting people, and slowly gaining their confidence. Sometimes, Matus said, they gave her documents but more often they just gave information. “That is not the type of information you could leak to WikiLeaks,” she said. Instead, it was the explaining the procedures and systems, and the back story, that allowed such a broken court system to continue.

And at the end of her six years, Matus found she still did not have enough for her book. Instead, she went and studied other legal systems around the world for reference. “It was not that the book revealed one secret or one wrongdoing of one person, but the book put in context a whole system that wasn’t working,” she said. Part of the job was getting the secrets, she said but the bigger task was the processing of the information, much of which was already public or at least known locally, in order to create a traceable, irrefutable account of what was wrong.

“I’ve seen a lot of hysteria by journalists around WikiLeaks — they feel threatened,” she said. “I think the most meaningful part of this is he had to give the information to journalists to process it. That’s why there are journalists: to do the boring part.”

Kingdom near bottom in budget transparency

Friday, 12 November 2010
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
The Phnom Penh Post

In Southeast Asia, only Vietnam provides its citizens with less information about how the government spends its money than the Kingdom. Without a transparent budget process, it is “virtually impossible” for Cambodians to hold their government accountable.

This is according to a new report released by the Open Budget Initiative, a project of the United States-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The NGO Forum on Cambodia sponsored a workshop on the subject with about 100 regional economic experts yesterday in Phnom Penh.

“I would like to appeal to the Government of Cambodia to continue to do more in improving our budget transparency ranking as well as encourage more public participation in the budget process,” said Chhith Sam Ath, executive director of the NGO Forum.

Cambodia-specific research in the report led by Chea Kim Song, development issues program manager for the NGO Forum, concluded that “the government provides the public with scant information on the central government’s budget and financial activities assessed by the survey” and gave the CPP-led government a score of 15 out of 100.

In Southeast Asia, the Philippines ranked highest with 55. Thailand earned a 42, and Vietnam was the least transparent at 14. Laos, Myanmar and Singapore were not rated.

The survey of 94 countries found “poor transparency and accountability” around the world, with an average global score of 42, and 74 countries failing to meet “basic standards”.

A number of factors led to Cambodia’s abysmal ranking, according to the report, including the limiting of important budget documents such as the draft budget law and the mid-year review to internal circulation.

The government also does not release a non-technical version of the budget that would allow citizens to better understand spending priorities.

Chea Kim Song said Cambodia lacked proper budget oversight.

Neither the National Assembly nor the National Audit Authority has adequate authority, time or resources to act as effective checks on the budget process.

Minister of Information Khieu Khanharith dismissed the criticism.

“We do not care about Cambodia’s score ranking”, he said, and claimed that NGOs “are lazy because they did not read Cambodia’s budget reports, which had been published by our government every year”.

Survey Finds Transparency Deficiency in Budgeting

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Thursday, 11 November 2010

“These are the countries that will need to quickly improve their transparency level to march with neighboring countries.”

Cambodia has nudged up slightly in its budget transparency, but it remains one of the lowest ranked countries in the region.

The Washington-based International Budget Partnership's annual budget survey found Cambodia's budget slightly more open than in 2008, and a more open than that of Vietnam.

On a scale between one and 100, Cambodia ranks 15 this year, up from 11 in 2008.

“Cambodia's score compared to regional countries has a very low rank, but it is higher than Vietnam,” said Chea King Song, a development manager for NGO Forum.

The average score for Southeast Asian countries was 36. Thailand scored 41, while the Philippines scored 55.

“In Cambodia and Vietnam scant information is provided,” according to the budget survey. “These are the countries that will need to quickly improve their transparency level to march with neighboring countries.”

The survey also found a weak legislative arm without enough power to amend budget proposals made by the executive branch or to hold public hearings on budget issues.

Cheam Yiep, head of the National Assembly's finance committee, called the report unfair.

“We work based on laws,” he said. “We do not keep information under the table. Cambodia works hard for transparency, public participation, effectiveness and good governance for the budget.”

Leah April, a public sector specialist for the World Bank's office in Cambodia, said Cambodia has made efforts to improve transparency in its public finances and is working to develop an information system to provide more timely information.

Don't lecture Dr. Hoon Xhen about transparency, he learnt everything from Pol Pot's and Uncle Ho's Universities already!

Cambodia tells donors to quit lecturing on fiscal transparency

May 26, 2010
DPA

'Global Witness is a group of thieves, they cooperate with foreign agencies' - Hun Xen, leader of Cambodia's family of the thieves of the nation

Phnom Penh - Prime Minister Hun Sen told a conference on good mining practices Wednesday that foreign organisations must stop giving advice on how to manage expected revenues.

'This is not the hour to talk about spending the money,' Hun Sen told several hundred business executives, diplomats and civil society members in a speech opening the two-day meeting.

'And don't talk too much looking on Cambodia as a child; the (government) is not a child,' he said. 'So do not advise too much.'

In recent years, foreign companies have signed dozens of exploration deals in industries from oil and gas to bauxite and gold.

Critics charge that the deals are opaque, with revenues failing to reach the national budget.

Hun Sen also lashed out at Britain-based Global Witness, which has published highly critical reports on the government's handling of state assets, including forestry and mining.

'Global Witness is a group of thieves, they cooperate with foreign agencies,' he charged. 'We have no money (from extractive industries) but they teach us about how to spend the money, and even blame us for stealing it.'

Global Witness spokesman George Boden last month urged donors to pressure Phnom Penh to account for millions of dollars in contract bonuses from French oil firm Total SA and Australian mining company BHP Billiton Ltd.

Boden said there was no sign that the bulk of the money had reached the budget.

'Donors must use the upcoming round of donor-government meetings to ask some tough questions and get some answers,' Boden said.

The government has said the money from Total and BHP Billiton went into a social fund, although details of that fund remain unclear.

BHP Billiton is currently under investigation by US and British regulatory authorities for possible violations of anti-graft legislation reportedly committed in Cambodia.

Hun Sen's speech came ahead of next week's donor conference at which pledges are made. In 2009, Cambodia received about 950 million dollars from foreign governments, roughly half its annual budget.

Cambodia is ranked as one of the world's most corrupt countries. It was listed last year in 158th place by graft watchdog Transparency International, with 1st place going to the least-corrupt country. Only 19 nations were ranked worse.

Slick money in Cambodia’s oil sector

Building blocks for exploitation
Already, most of the Kingdom has been divided by the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA) into distinct areas and blocks. The only areas that remain undelineated are three regions on the western border with Thailand, in the far northwest, and east, stretching around block 24 near the Tonle Sap, which also has not been classified.

Cambodia’s new deal
The Japanese Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) has signed a memorandum of understanding that officials said would lay the groundwork for a product-sharing contract (PSC) in Cambodian territory.

The deal was overseen by the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA). Details of the agreement, however, remain shrouded in secrecy.
Source: Cambodian National Petroleum Authority.
JON TURNER AND ELLIE DYER

Wednesday, 05 May 2010
Ellie Dyer and Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

Kingdom’s latest oil venture raises questions over funding, impact on the environment

THE financing of Cambodia’s newest oil deal remained undisclosed on Tuesday despite international and domestic calls for transparency in the Kingdom’s nascent extraction sector.

Regardless of the pomp and circumstance seen at a rare public signing of a study and survey agreement – made between the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) and the Cambodia National Petroleum Authority (CNPU) – questions about the scale of funding, investment and bonuses involved in domestic oil deals remained unanswered.

Such reticence came amid BHP Billiton’s internal investigation into accusations of graft, widely thought to relate to dealings surrounding a Cambodian concession, and pressure from international watchdog Global Witness for the issue to top a government donor meeting in June.

The need for transparency in the Kingdom has also been the subject of much domestic discussion in recent months as groups such as Cambodia’s NGO Forum call for accountability in the sector to ensure benefits from the extractive industries are spread throughout the country.

The issue has become especially crucial as activity in the sector is increasing, watchdog groups say. A CNPU press release issued Tuesday stated that Cambodia has recently experienced a spike in exploration activities.

At the signing ceremony, held in the Council of Ministers office in Phnom Penh, there were no indicators of the potential windfall to be gained from the extraction of natural resources in northern Cambodia’s Block 17.

“The details have yet to be figured out,” said JOGMEC’s Executive Vice President Fumiaki Fujita, when asked what initial funding would go towards a two-year geological survey of the 6,500-square-kilometre area. He sidestepped numerous questions about financing, saying it was too early to judge investment, adding only that “transparency is to be guaranteed” in later stages of extraction development.

"OBVIOUSLY, CAMBODIA SHOULD HAVE AUDITED ACCOUNTS SHOWING [PAYMENT] RECEIVED.”

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An also did not mention financing in his speech to around 100 suited dignitaries, instead stating: “On behalf of the government, I hope that JOGMEC efforts will encourage other Japanese companies to become leading businesses for oil and gas in Cambodia”.

A representative from CNPU refused to release any financial details of the deal when contacted by the Post on Tuesday, and JOGMEC officials confirmed only that “some kind of payment” would be made to the government if it seeks an extraction licence. They did not elaborate.

The reticence to disclose investment follows criticism by interest groups of the allegedly murky nature of Cambodia’s energy deals.

Global Witness called last week for extractive-sector transparency to be a subject of discussion at an upcoming meeting between the government and its donors.

Its statement followed Hun Sen’s confirmation last week that Total had agreed to pay the government US$28 million for offshore Block 3, of which $8 million would be dedicated to a “social development fund”.

The exact details of the Total investment have yet to become clear, but were likened by the prime minister to Cambodia’s deal with mining giant BHP Billiton – now internally investigating graft allegations over $2.5 million in unofficial fees paid to the Kingdom for a mining concession.

The reluctance of global corporations to release detailed information about their energy deals has taken on added significance, according to Global Witness.

The group said it believes that the JOGMEC deal, coupled with reports of increased testing by other potential investors at onshore sites, shows that Cambodia is more likely to possess onshore oil reserves than was previously thought.

But George Boden, spokesman for the watchdog, said that any oil deal centring on the Tonle Sap basin, parts of which have been designated as a protected area by UNESCO, had the potential to harm the environment and a “massive” number of livelihoods.

“There is no reason to believe there is a position to ensure oil extraction in the Tonle Sap region doesn’t have negative environmental consequences or is of benefit to the people,” Boden said.

“As a general rule, there is no reason that once a deal has been signed that companies shouldn’t be voicing payments made. Obviously, Cambodia should have audited accounts showing [payments] received,” Boden added Tuesday, speaking via phone from London.

JOGMEC’s Fujita responded Tuesday, saying that to his understanding the area under investigation does not fall within the protected zone.

He added that any seismic survey carried out by the company would include an environmental impact assessment.

Corporate openness regarding oil deals has, however, been hard to achieve.

Penelope Semavoine, a Total spokeswoman in Paris, told the Post on Monday that she was unable to disclose details of the energy firm’s revenue and taxation arrangement with the Cambodian government.

Nevertheless, after a year of relative quiet, the government is paying renewed attention to the sector. A CNPU press release, distributed at Tuesday’s meeting, stated: “Although today Cambodia has not yet commercially produced oil and gas, recently Cambodia has experienced an increase in exploration activities.”

Earlier this year, it was confirmed that PetroVietnam had paid money to the government after the signing of an exploration deal for onshore Block 15. Total is negotiating with the government for rights to onshore Block 26.

Hun Sen is also keeping up pressure on companies already operating concessions. Last month, he ordered Chevron – which owns a 30 percent stake in Block A, a 4,709-square-kilometre area in the Gulf of Thailand – to start producing oil by 2012 or face losing its permit.

And although JOGMEC has yet to discover whether its venture will be worthwhile, company officials remain hopeful for the future.

“At this stage it is difficult to say what the outcome [of a survey] is going to be for the area. But, with the knowledge we have regarding Vietnam and Thailand now, we have identified resources in this region which are supposed to be located close to the area,” Block 17, said JOGMEC’s Fujita.

According to the press release, JOGMEC was previously known as Japan National Oil Corporation, and performed an airborne gravity and magnetic survey in Cambodian onshore areas from 1997 to 1999.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JAMES O’TOOLE

Astronomical inflation data conveniently withheld before election

Chhay Than, CPP minister of Planning

03 Feb 2009
KI-Media

The Cambodia Daily reported in today’s edition that Chhay Than, the minister of Planning, admitted that he intentional withheld inflation data from last year, because his ministry “did not want high prices to have an effect on the July 2008 national election.”

In fact, the actual inflation rate from January 2007 to 2008 was 183%, therefore CPI reports were suppressed in the following six months, especially when the inflation was at its peak during the election period. “We just wanted to keep the good feeling [of citizens] before the election and avoid the wrongful interpretation of politicians … We wanted a positive number for the people,” CPP minister Chhay Than was quoted by The Cambodia Daily as saying. “This is not the government’s intention to hide inflation,” the minister added. The World Bank indicated that inflation hit a record high of 25.7% in May 2008, slightly prior to the election.

According to local media, Khieu Kanharith, the CPP minister of Information, also admitted that the government suspended the publication of inflation data so that it would not reflect poorly on the ruling CPP government. Arjun Goswami, ADB country representative, criticized the lack of transparency in the presentation of statistics by the government. Sam Rainsy blasted the government’s decision to withhold inflation data as being “irresponsible” and a poor adherence to democratic principles.