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Friday June 8, 2:49 PMWatchdog 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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