The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “Chea Vichea mourned ten years on” plus 9 more

ANZ Royal Bank has been financing a sugar plantation connected to child labour and forced evictions, documents received by the Post reveal.

Phnom Penh Sugar, owned by ruling party Senator Ly Yong Phat, has been at the centre of years-long land disputes following the forced eviction of hundreds of families from an 8,343-hectare land concession in Kampong Speu.

The bank's involvement was outlined in two audits commissioned or instigated by the bank itself and obtained by the Post yesterday.

The initial audit – which revealed ANZ Royal as a potential financier at the time – was carried out in 2010 by Bangkok-based International Environmental Management (IEM), which made dozens of recommendations ranging from environmental protection to workers' health and safety, to the monitoring of relocation sites.

A follow-up audit by the company in 2013 revealed the sugar company had obtained financing from ANZ Royal to help build a plantation and construct a sugar-processing refinery, while ignoring 60 per cent of recommendations made in the 2010 report.

According to IEM, Phnom Penh Sugar fell short on ensuring food-security monitoring for those relocated, management plans for workers handling dangerous chemicals and materials, and appropriate lining of wastewater treatment ponds to prevent leakage.

Asked about the findings, ANZ Royal's chief executive officer said the bank, one of the largest in the Cambodia, would "continue to engage with this particular case".

"Where we have found that a client does not meet our environmental and social standards and they are not willing to adapt their practices, ANZ has declined funding or exited the relationship," CEO Grant Knuckey said.

Australian banking giant ANZ, 55 per cent owner of ANZ Royal Bank, is a signatory to the Equator Principles and has "specific standards in regard to the environmental and social implications of the projects they finance", the 2013 audit document states.

"ANZ Royal has requested that Phnom Penh Sugar has a direct dialogue with community leaders, and it will continue to review the way the company addresses its social and environmental obligations," Knuckey said.

Yong Phat told the Post yesterday that he was unaware of the ANZ-commissioned environmental audit, but stressed that he always operated within the law.

"Regarding the environmental assessment, we already did it. I myself escorted an official from the Ministry of Environment to check it. If we don't, how can we operate? I definitely comply with the law with our investment," he said.

In January last year, a Post investigation revealed that children as young as seven were being employed to cut sugar cane on the Kampong Speu sugar plantation. Less than a week later, Phnom Penh Sugar announced it would come down hard on any contractors employing child labour.

The audit claims this practice has ceased, but noted that children remain present on the work site.

The controversy surrounding land-use issues in Cambodia has resonated internationally as well.

In January last year, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on the European Commission "to act, as a matter of urgency, on the findings of the recent human rights impact assessment of the functioning of the EU's Everything But Arms (EBA) initiative in Cambodia".

Cambodia benefits under the EBA from trade preferences on exports to Europe.

Yong Phat also holds an adjacent 9,052-hectare concession to the Omlaing plantation in Oral district and two other concessions practically adjacent.

Military units have repeatedly been deployed to the sugar plantation, resulting in ongoing tensions between authorities and villagers.

The IEM audit states that general worker "health and safety practices upon observation appear to be poor", citing a lack of appropriate protective equipment used by workers.

Perhaps even more damning is the fact after almost three years, the project still has "no formal management plans for environmental and social issues".

The 2013 audit concludes by noting the implementation of these recommendations were "critical to the success of the project". The same audit shows 40 per cent of the local population as having lost land or been relocated. Of those who received compensation, 89 per cent did not believe it was fair.

Those relocated by the project are facing "major potential food security issues" due to the land they've been relocated to. This is despite the 2010 audit calling for monitoring of "resettled households on presence of food security risks and for households with children, consider nutrition supplements".

The report notes these risks are most evident in the Pis village resettlement community, where an inspection found no rice has been grown due both to lack of land and lack of water for irrigation.

Vann Sophath, the land reform project coordinator at the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said he hoped the company would now address the issues raised in the audit.

"Companies rarely do carry out such social and environmental impact assessments, and when they do, they disregard them," he said. "Those assessments often remain dead letter and are never implemented."

Yong Phat is one of Cambodia's richest tycoons, controlling a vast empire of companies that span construction, electricity, tobacco, resource extraction, tourism, car sales and sugar. He is also known by the Thai name Pad Supapa.

ANZ's partner in Cambodia, Royal Group, is also owned by another of Cambodia's richest tycoons, Kith Meng, who has a similarly expansive portfolio of companies and strong affiliations with the Cambodian People's Party.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MAY KUNMAKARA

Security guards that have forcibly detained protesters in the capital in recent weeks include large numbers of men who have received no government security training, Phnom Penh municipal spokesman Long Dimanche said yesterday.

In an effort to recruit civilian "public order" officers, Dimanche told the Post, the Ministry of Interior had issued a directive telling City Hall to stop hiring security guards through private companies.

"The people who have applied for this job, we have not given them technical security training, but we have given them legal and administrative training," he said.

Dimanche would not elaborate on what that training has involved, the size of the force at City Hall's disposal or when the directive was issued.

As crackdowns on public gatherings have intensified since the fatal shooting of at least four striking garment workers by authorities on January 3, an increasing number of security personnel in nondescript uniforms have joined those in familiar Daun Penh district security attire to forcibly break up demonstrations and make arrests.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan told the Post on Tuesday that security guards involved in detaining protesters had been hired by City Hall.

"They are working at private security [firms] and are hired by City Hall to enforce public order. I don't see what's wrong with that," he said.

But Dimanche said yesterday that while City Hall had recruited directly from a private firm in the past, it no longer did so.

"Previously, City Hall hired security guards from a private company," he said. "But the Ministry of Interior has told us we can select people [in Phnom Penh] to replace that private company in order to protect public order."

In turn, City Hall had instructed its districts – including Daun Penh – to follow the directive, he added.

"The Ministry of Interior has allowed us to prepare a uniform for them. They are instructed not to crack down or arrest people, but they can help the police to manage public order or to stop people acting in a certain way. If the people don't listen, the guards can detain them and take them to police."

Siphan said he still believed City Hall hired security guards from private firms but acknowledged that some now seemed to be dressing differently.

"I used to see that security guards always had uniforms. The way [City Hall] hires people – the Ministry of Interior is in charge of that.

"From what I understand, private security is regulated by the ministry – they have their own procedures. If you want to register, you have to have a licence and [know] how to [act]."

But even some of those security guards in clearly marked Daun Penh district uniforms on Phnom Penh's Riverside yesterday said they had received no security training for the job and were not even sure where their salaries were coming from.

"I did not sign a contract with the Daun Penh district," said one young man who declined to give his name. "I just know that at the end of each month, my team leader – a Daun Penh district officer – gives me some money.

"I've never been given security training. My friend just asked me to come here and work with him without signing anything."

A man who said he was in charge of Daun Penh security guards who patrol areas from Wat Phnom to the Royal Palace said his team had been employed directly by the district since about 2000.

"Our uniforms and logo are easily recognisable to Phnom Penh authorities and the Ministry of Interior," he said.

Meanchey district governor Kouch Chamroeun said he had been aware of a Ministry of Interior push to build up a group of "public order" officers from the community, but that edict had come some years ago.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak could not be reached for comment. Sak Setha, secretary of state at the ministry, referred questions to the National Police, whose spokesman, Kirth Chantharith, also could not be reached.

Brigadier General Kheng Tito, spokesman for the National Military Police, said he had no issues with the role municipal and district security guards were playing in cracking down on protesters, saying they were hired to "maintain public order in the city" and did "good things" on orders from their bosses.

But acting president of Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA) Sok Chhun Oeung, who was detained by men in blue uniforms and black helmets near the Royal Palace on Sunday, said authorities were playing a dangerous game.

"I'm very concerned that these people have never been properly trained but are hired in this period of increased protests," he said. "They follow orders from their bosses, but they don't care about injuries during the crackdowns.

"We need authorities to say who they are and put them on official state contracts."

The Christmas spirit was apparently lost on police who arrested a man they say was caught red-handed mailing holiday-themed stuffed animals full of a methamphetamine precursor to Australia on Monday.

Vann Vai, a 46-year-old Vietnamese national, could serve 20 years in prison after allegedly being caught sending a large shipment of pseudoephedrine hidden inside stuffed animals to Australia via the post office, National Police spokesman Kirth Chantharith said.

"He was arrested by Cambodian National Police after a report from the Australian anti-drug police," Chantharith said. "[He] brought over 12 kilograms of pseudoephedrine [from Vietnam], sending it to Australia via the post office."

Before he was caught at the Chbar Ampov Post Office in Meanchey district's Chbar Ampov commune, Vai had sent pseudoephedrine to Australia from the same location twice before; once on December 19 and once on January 8, Chantharith said. Together, these two shipments amounted to about 72.9 kilograms.

Australian narcotics police notified Cambodian authorities of Vai's methods after intercepting both his previous shipments. Anti-drug police arrested Vai at about 9am on Monday after they checked the package he was trying to send, Chantharith said.

Drug traffickers often smuggle drugs into Cambodia and send them to other countries through the mail because the Kingdom's postal system is behind the times in monitoring what is being shipped to and from Cambodia, said Sok Chour, vice director of the Ministry of Interior's Anti-Drug Police Department.

"Right now, we have no machines, tools or other equipment to scan for drugs at any post offices in Cambodia's 24 provinces and cities," Chour said yesterday. "This is the reason why drug dealers or foreign drug traffickers have used our Cambodian post offices to send drugs to other countries."

Vai was brought into Phnom Penh Municipal Court for questioning yesterday afternoon, Chantharith said. He is currently detained, but has not yet been charged with a crime.

Neither Vai nor Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutor Yet Chakrya could be reached for comment yesterday.

Phnom Penh Municipality has rejected a request from the Cambodia National Rescue Party to visit the 23 detainees held in Kampong Cham province's Tropaing Phlong prison, also known as Correctional Centre 3.

In a letter sent to the CNRP dated January 21, Phnom Penh Municipal Court investigating judge Chea Sokheang denied the request for 20 members of the opposition party to visit the detainees.

"They are accused of intentional violence with aggravating circumstances, intentional damages with aggravating circumstances, using means to obstruct public order and contempt," the letter reads.

Yim Sovann, a spokesman for the CNRP, said it was an attempt to "silence freedom and [cover up] serious human rights violations".

The 23 detainees – including Vorn Pov of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economic Association, representatives of land rights groups, workers and farmers – were arrested on January 2 and 3 for allegedly taking part in a protest with hundreds of workers, who were demanding a doubling of the minimum wage.

After their arrests, the 23 were incommunicado for a week before being tracked down to the remote prison near the Vietnamese border.

While the opposition and ruling parties have been shuffling negotiating proposals back and forth to break the political deadlock over recent weeks, one main contentious point remains unresolved: an early election, Cambodia National Rescue Party leader Sam Rainsy said yesterday.

The CNRP responded affirmatively to a proposal from the Cambodian People's Party exactly a week ago, Rainsy said, but added in a counter-proposal that it wanted a mid-term election – a request he said has not yet been met with an official response.

"The proposal was about an early election. We have received other proposals … and we did not make any changes, which shows we agree on a number of proposals from the CPP," he said.

"But on one point we specified that we want to be clear on the possibility of a new election, an early election in two years and a half. [On] this point, there is no response at all yet."

The CNRP leader added that both parties had agreed on a number of points, including National Assembly reform and a TV licence for a private company affiliated with the CNRP, but called the early election a possible "stumbling block".

"Maybe they are considering [the early election]. I don't know, but … on the other points, we have implicitly agreed."

Opposition spokesman Yim Sovann added that although his party had not received an "official response" from the CPP about the early election, speeches and media comments by the prime minister and other officials indicated the demand was likely to be rejected.

In a speech on January 18, Hun Sen said that any acts against the constitution – which states the National Assembly cannot be dissolved before the end of its five-year mandate – would be quashed.

A referendum on a new election, while not impossible, he added, would have to originate in the National Assembly with participation from both parties.

The CNRP have said that they will boycott the assembly until their key demands are met.

Minister for Information Khieu Kanharith yesterday ruled out the possibility of an early election. "You can't violate the constitution," he said.

But Sak Sitha, secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior and a member of the CPP's negotiating team, said yesterday he remained "optimistic" that the political deadlock could be resolved. "There are still different ideas on some points but it is not deadlocked negotiation."

Two employees of a massage shop in Phnom Penh's Paris Hotel sentenced to serve just one year of a four-year sentence following their conviction on pimping charges in October will soon walk free after having their sentenced reduced, an official at the Court of Appeal said yesterday.

Pouy Kak, 36, a manager, and Duong Dany, 29, a cashier, both formerly employed at the hote,l were arrested on June 9, 2013, during a raid on the shop, located on Kampuchea Krom Boulevard in the capital's Prampi Makara district.

Oum Sarith, presiding judge at the Court of Appeal, yesterday bumped the year sentence down to eight months.

During yesterday's hearing, both suspects denied knowledge that the 35 Cambodian and Vietnamese "massage girls" were having sex with clients, despite five of the women testifying in court that Kak would take a $5 cut from whatever amount each girl made with a customer.

No explanation was given at the hearing as to why Kak and Dany's sentences were reduced.

Protesters were due to march on four foreign embassies this morning to deliver petitions calling for the release of the 23 detainees held at the remote Correctional Centre 3 after being arrested during the crackdown earlier this month.

The march – to the embassies of Germany, South Korea, Australia and Thailand – comes after 11 activists from the same group representing 181 NGOs were arrested on Tuesday near the US embassy.

Sia Phearum, secretariat director of the Housing Rights Task Force, said that despite the likelihood that more activists would be grabbed off the streets by private security guards hired by City Hall, the marchers could not turn a blind eye to the detainees' plight.

"I think there is no choice. The way that we work, there are arrests, we go to prison," he said. "How can we close our eyes, close our ears?"

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU), who was one of the 11 arrested on Tuesday's march, said he would march again today.

"I am not worried about my security, and I am not scared of being arrested again, because we are not wrong. We're just bringing petitions to the embassies," he said.

"We do not cause social disorder or do anything illegal. I want to send a message to City Hall governor Pa Socheatvong that he should allow us to march and protect all participants, because he will be admired by everybody and other countries," he added.

Long Dimanche, City Hall spokesman, said yesterday that he was not aware of the march, adding that orders would be given to break up any "rally" where the city had not granted permission.

"I do not know about it at all, but if it is illegal and without permission, every rally must be banned," he said.

Phearum said that the activists would set out on the march expecting to come up against the city's private security vanguard.

"We know that the authorities will not allow us to submit the petition. They try to suppress our freedom of expression," he said. "We know that the international community has close co-operation with the government. That's why we have to find a way to reach out to them."

Civil society groups and Phnom Penh municipal officials next month will hold a workshop to decide which designated slum areas will be the focus of a planned pilot project to improve living standards.

On Tuesday night, Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatavong and members of civil society groups including the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) and Samakum Theangtnout (STT) met at City Hall, where they began talks on which 17 of Phnom Penh's 400 designated poor areas need most improvement, City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said.

"We want to determine whether City Hall can help with issues such as roads, sewage systems and hygiene; and what the civil society group can help," Dimanche told the Post yesterday.

The 17 communities included in the project will likely include the Boeung Kak lake and Borei Keila communities, both of which have faced mass evictions, said Vann Sophath, project coordinator for land reform projects at CCHR.

After Tuesday night's meeting, Sophath said the project will likely be further discussed at a workshop in February or early March by municipal officials, community representatives, local authorities and stakeholders in the private sector.

While City Hall seems to be taking a step in the right direction, their actions remain to be seen, Sophath said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SEAN TEEHAN

Cambodia's top football league, sponsored by telecommunications company Metfone, has grown bigger by two teams this year and, in the hope of making it better and brighter, the Football Federation of Cambodia has broken new ground in allowing a foreign franchise into the fold for the first time in its 32-year history.

There are 12 teams on the roster for the 2014 season, which kicks off at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday and ends on August 31.

With the scrapping of the Super Four play-offs this year, the championship title goes to the end-of-season table-toppers, who also get a ticket to the AFC President's Cup.

But to whip up competitive interest past the league phase, two compact trophy events for the top and bottom four finishers have been introduced in the form of the FFC Cup and the FFC Challenge Cup.

In some select cases, the federation will try out a phased introduction of home and away matches this season.

"We want to make a start. Not all teams have their own home pitches, but where there is a possibility we will try and schedule matches away from either the Olympic Stadium or the Old Stadium, which have been two of our regular venues," FFC spokesman May Tola told the Post.

The Cambodian franchise of Albirex Niigata Singapore, a subsidiary of a Japanese-based entity, will enjoy the rare distinction of being the first foreign team to figure in the Cambodian league.

But quite unlike its Singapore unit, Albirex Niigata Phnom Penh will be made up of locals with five Japanese players filling the stipulated overseas players quota.

There is also a strong Japanese element in TriAsia Phnom Penh, who have moved up from Division A1 to the mainstream this season.

The team is under the care of head coach Yoshioka Daisuke of Japan, who for close to two years coached the national U16 side here.

TriAsia will unveil their Japanese import Kihara Masakazu, who was in his nation's U18 team nine years ago. Having played in the J-League Division 1 last year, Masakazu could be central to the team's fortunes.

For a side which won the league after years of frustrating wait, Svay Rieng would be keen to zealously guard that treasure. Though their pre-season preparations went well enough, the team's opening match in the ongoing Ho Chi Minh City Cup was a huge body blow, beaten as they were 6-0 by Vietnamese team TDCS Dong Thap.

Despite his bitter disappointment with the result, coach Sam Vandeth has promised fans that the team will not let them down in both the Hun Sen Cup and the league.

Svay Rieng's greatest loss after winning the championship for the first time was their star striker Khun Laboravy, last year's winner of the Golden Boot, who moved over to Boeung Ket, the 2013 beaten finalists.

While the Kampong Cham-based side, who scaled the league summit in their debut season in 2012, may have won over Laboravy, they are all the poorer for losing out Bisan George, last year's
second best scorer, to arch-rivals Phnom Penh Crown, who have also roped in arguably the country's best goalkeeper, Sou Yathy, aside from signing some exciting new foreign prospects.

Bringing in S.League champs Tampines Rovers to Phnom Penh and giving their own team some quality time and a friendly with the Stags might have sharpened Naga Corp's pre-season preparations as they hope to regain their league supremacy.

The two-time champions have signed two South Koreans as well as one player each from Japan, Guinea and Ivory Coast to add muscle to the team.

Striker Kim Sang Min and midfielder Jang In Yong, both in their early 20s, are vastly experienced players. The 1.91-metre-tall Kim turned out last year for Gangneung City FC, while the slightly shorter Jang has played in Brazil, China, Australia and Japan.

Versatile Japanese player, 36-year-old Masahiro Fukasawa, is widely expected to strengthen the Naga midfield. Masa, as he is popularly known as, has played for teams in Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Argentina, Singapore and Hong Kong.

While retaining the services of 18-year-old Anderson Zogbe of Ivory Coast for his second season, Naga have brought in 19-year-old Barry Lelouma from Guinea to complete their foreign quota for the season.

Among the heavyweights, Crown have won the league title more than any. Of the four triumphs to their credit, two came back-to-back in 2010 and 2011. Naga last won the league in 2009.

In two appearances, Boueng Ket won in 2012 and were runners-up the following year to Svay Rieng, who in previous years played as Preah Khan Reach.

The 12 competing teams this season are (in alphabetical order):
Albirex Niigata Phnom Penh FC
Asia Europe University
Boeung Ket
Build Bright United
Kirivong Sok Sen Chey
Naga Corp
National Defense Ministry
Phnom Penh Crown
Police Commissary
Svay Rieng
TriAsia Phnom Penh
Western University