Showing posts with label State looting investigation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label State looting investigation. Show all posts
Friday, June 08, 2007
Watchdog offers joint investigation into illegal logging in Cambodia
Friday June 8, 2007
(Kyodo) - An independent logging watchdog said Friday it is ready to cooperate with the Cambodian government to investigate cases of illegal logging and corruption highlighted in a recent report by the group.
"We are ready to support an investigation in any way we can," Simon Taylor, director of London-based Global Witness, said in a statement.
The move follows the government's announcement Monday that it has set up a committee to study the report. A day earlier, the government banned circulation of the report, saying it targeted the country's leaders and senior figures.
"We must not forget that the facts set out in our report concern very serious crimes. As such, the government must ensure that there is a full judicial and police investigation into these issues, and that any such investigation must also be seen to be effective," Taylor said, welcoming the establishment of the government committee.
"Our report was always intended to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of those elite family members, senior officials and generals responsible for illegal logging and associated organized crime. If the government is now serious about ensuring that this happens, then that deserves to be applauded," he added in the statement sent via e-mail from London.
In the 95-page report titled "Cambodia's Family Trees: illegal logging and the stripping of public assets by Cambodia's elite," released late last month, Global Witness said a "kleptocratic elite" of officials and their kin are selling off Cambodia's natural resources with blatant disregard of the law.
The report details the activities of Cambodia's most powerful illegal logging syndicate, known as the Seng Keang Co., which is controlled by individuals related to Prime Minister Hun Sen, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Chan Sarun and Director General of the Forest Administration Ty Sokhun.
"Under the guise of a government-mandated rubber plantation, it has illegally logged vast tracts of forest, yielding a timber haul worth more than $13 million annually. Its targeting of resin trees has damaged the livelihoods of hundreds, if not thousands, of families living in the area," the report said.
Cambodia appointed Global Witness as an independent monitor of forests in the country in 2001, but terminated its mission in 2003 following a series of critical reports.
"We are ready to support an investigation in any way we can," Simon Taylor, director of London-based Global Witness, said in a statement.
The move follows the government's announcement Monday that it has set up a committee to study the report. A day earlier, the government banned circulation of the report, saying it targeted the country's leaders and senior figures.
"We must not forget that the facts set out in our report concern very serious crimes. As such, the government must ensure that there is a full judicial and police investigation into these issues, and that any such investigation must also be seen to be effective," Taylor said, welcoming the establishment of the government committee.
"Our report was always intended to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of those elite family members, senior officials and generals responsible for illegal logging and associated organized crime. If the government is now serious about ensuring that this happens, then that deserves to be applauded," he added in the statement sent via e-mail from London.
In the 95-page report titled "Cambodia's Family Trees: illegal logging and the stripping of public assets by Cambodia's elite," released late last month, Global Witness said a "kleptocratic elite" of officials and their kin are selling off Cambodia's natural resources with blatant disregard of the law.
The report details the activities of Cambodia's most powerful illegal logging syndicate, known as the Seng Keang Co., which is controlled by individuals related to Prime Minister Hun Sen, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Chan Sarun and Director General of the Forest Administration Ty Sokhun.
"Under the guise of a government-mandated rubber plantation, it has illegally logged vast tracts of forest, yielding a timber haul worth more than $13 million annually. Its targeting of resin trees has damaged the livelihoods of hundreds, if not thousands, of families living in the area," the report said.
Cambodia appointed Global Witness as an independent monitor of forests in the country in 2001, but terminated its mission in 2003 following a series of critical reports.
Global Witness offers to cooperate with Phnom Penh in investigation into state looting in Cambodia
Global Witness offers full cooperation with government investigation into state looting in Cambodia
Press Release – 08/06/2007
UK-based NGO Global Witness today welcomed the Cambodian government's announcement that it had commissioned an investigation into the cases of high-level corruption, illegal logging, attempted murder and kidnapping detailed in its 'Cambodia's Family Trees' report.
The announcement by Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith, follows an earlier decision by the government to ban the report and a threat by Prime Minister Hun Sen's brother to "break the heads" of any Global Witness staff who visit Cambodia.
"Amongst the childish responses of some individuals, and the totally unacceptable bully-boy threats of the Prime Minister’s brother, the news of an investigation comes as a positive development," said Global Witness Director Simon Taylor, "Our report was always intended to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of those elite family members, senior officials and generals responsible for illegal logging and associated organised crime. If the government is now serious about ensuring that this happens, then that deserves to be applauded."
While the government's announcement is encouraging, questions remain about the scope of the investigation proposed and the suitability of the organisation charged with heading it - Swiss auditing firm SGS. SGS previously worked as the government's independent monitor of forest law enforcement in Cambodia between late 2003 and early 2005. The company's steadfast refusal to acknowledge the corruption underpinning the illegal logging industry drew widespread criticism, however.
SGS previously made several visits to the Prey Long Forest profiled in 'Cambodia's Family Trees', but failed to report the overwhelming evidence of massive illegal logging by relatives of Hun Sen, who had imposed a reign of terror - extending to attempted shootings - over the local population.
"We are ready to support an investigation in any way we can, however we remain to be convinced that SGS is up to the job. In Cambodia their brand of 'see no evil' monitoring has proved devastatingly ineffectual. Investigating a well-connected and violent timber mafia requires something far more robust.", said Simon Taylor. "We must not forget that the facts set out in our report concern very serious crimes. As such, the government must ensure that there is a full judicial and police investigation into these issues, and that any such investigation must also be seen to be effective. A whitewash would be completely unacceptable."
"We also urge ministers to remedy the reputational damage they have inflicted on the government by overturning the unlawful ban on distributing the 'Cambodia's Family Trees' report without further delay," added Taylor:
For further information, please call: +44 7957 142 121 or +44 7905 348 978
(1) Global Witness exposes the corrupt exploitation of natural resources and international trade systems, to drive campaigns that end impunity, resource-linked conflict, and human rights and environmental abuses. Global Witness was co-nominated for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for its leading work on ‘conflict diamonds' and awarded the Gleitsman Foundation prize for international activism in 2005. For more information on Cambodia, see other Global Witness reports and briefing documents, available at
http://www.globalwitness.org/pages/en/cambodia.html
(2) The announcement by Khieu Kanharith of an investigation into the activities detailed in the 'Cambodia's Family Trees' report was reported by Xinhua in the Chinese People's Daily newspaper, 7 June 2007.
(3) References to the threat made against Global Witness staff by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s brother are drawn from an article by Douglas Gillison and Yun Samean, published in the Cambodia Daily on June 5 2007. In it, the Prime Minister’s brother and Kompong Cham provincial governor Hun Neng is quoted as saying: "If they (Global Witness staff) come to Cambodia, I will hit them until their heads are broken."
(4) The Prey Long forest landscape in northern Cambodia is the largest contiguous area of dry evergreen and semi-evergreen forest left standing in mainland Southeast Asia. Situated to the west of the Mekong River, it covers an area of approximately 5250 km2. Prey Long’s importance is highlighted in a number of studies of forest management in Cambodia, not least the 2006 World Bank Inspection Panel report
(http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTINSPECTIONPANEL/Resources/CAMBODIAFINAL.pdf)
and the 2004 Cambodia Independent Forest Sector Review
(http://www.cambodia-forest-sector.net/docs/mainreport.pdf).
It has been included in a tentative list of sites proposed for UNESCO World Heritage status. The Cambodian government is currently developing plans to clear tens of thousands of hectares of Prey Long to make way for plantations.
Press Release – 08/06/2007
UK-based NGO Global Witness today welcomed the Cambodian government's announcement that it had commissioned an investigation into the cases of high-level corruption, illegal logging, attempted murder and kidnapping detailed in its 'Cambodia's Family Trees' report.
The announcement by Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith, follows an earlier decision by the government to ban the report and a threat by Prime Minister Hun Sen's brother to "break the heads" of any Global Witness staff who visit Cambodia.
"Amongst the childish responses of some individuals, and the totally unacceptable bully-boy threats of the Prime Minister’s brother, the news of an investigation comes as a positive development," said Global Witness Director Simon Taylor, "Our report was always intended to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of those elite family members, senior officials and generals responsible for illegal logging and associated organised crime. If the government is now serious about ensuring that this happens, then that deserves to be applauded."
While the government's announcement is encouraging, questions remain about the scope of the investigation proposed and the suitability of the organisation charged with heading it - Swiss auditing firm SGS. SGS previously worked as the government's independent monitor of forest law enforcement in Cambodia between late 2003 and early 2005. The company's steadfast refusal to acknowledge the corruption underpinning the illegal logging industry drew widespread criticism, however.
SGS previously made several visits to the Prey Long Forest profiled in 'Cambodia's Family Trees', but failed to report the overwhelming evidence of massive illegal logging by relatives of Hun Sen, who had imposed a reign of terror - extending to attempted shootings - over the local population.
"We are ready to support an investigation in any way we can, however we remain to be convinced that SGS is up to the job. In Cambodia their brand of 'see no evil' monitoring has proved devastatingly ineffectual. Investigating a well-connected and violent timber mafia requires something far more robust.", said Simon Taylor. "We must not forget that the facts set out in our report concern very serious crimes. As such, the government must ensure that there is a full judicial and police investigation into these issues, and that any such investigation must also be seen to be effective. A whitewash would be completely unacceptable."
"We also urge ministers to remedy the reputational damage they have inflicted on the government by overturning the unlawful ban on distributing the 'Cambodia's Family Trees' report without further delay," added Taylor:
For further information, please call: +44 7957 142 121 or +44 7905 348 978
(1) Global Witness exposes the corrupt exploitation of natural resources and international trade systems, to drive campaigns that end impunity, resource-linked conflict, and human rights and environmental abuses. Global Witness was co-nominated for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for its leading work on ‘conflict diamonds' and awarded the Gleitsman Foundation prize for international activism in 2005. For more information on Cambodia, see other Global Witness reports and briefing documents, available at
http://www.globalwitness.org/pages/en/cambodia.html
(2) The announcement by Khieu Kanharith of an investigation into the activities detailed in the 'Cambodia's Family Trees' report was reported by Xinhua in the Chinese People's Daily newspaper, 7 June 2007.
(3) References to the threat made against Global Witness staff by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s brother are drawn from an article by Douglas Gillison and Yun Samean, published in the Cambodia Daily on June 5 2007. In it, the Prime Minister’s brother and Kompong Cham provincial governor Hun Neng is quoted as saying: "If they (Global Witness staff) come to Cambodia, I will hit them until their heads are broken."
(4) The Prey Long forest landscape in northern Cambodia is the largest contiguous area of dry evergreen and semi-evergreen forest left standing in mainland Southeast Asia. Situated to the west of the Mekong River, it covers an area of approximately 5250 km2. Prey Long’s importance is highlighted in a number of studies of forest management in Cambodia, not least the 2006 World Bank Inspection Panel report
(http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTINSPECTIONPANEL/Resources/CAMBODIAFINAL.pdf)
and the 2004 Cambodia Independent Forest Sector Review
(http://www.cambodia-forest-sector.net/docs/mainreport.pdf).
It has been included in a tentative list of sites proposed for UNESCO World Heritage status. The Cambodian government is currently developing plans to clear tens of thousands of hectares of Prey Long to make way for plantations.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
