Watchdog offers joint investigation into illegal logging in Cambodia
- From: Chim <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2007 01:11:27 -0700
Friday June 8, 2:49 PM
Watchdog offers joint investigation into illegal logging in Cambodia
(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.
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