Almost three years after his father’s sudden killing, the son of late forest activist Chut Wutty has returned from a fact-finding mission to Ratanakkiri province, where he identified four companies as having stockpiled luxury timber on a large scale.
In a statement released yesterday, Chheuy Udom Rasmey alleges that huge amounts of protected timber have been stockpiled at several depots and sawmills by the Try Pheap Group, the An Mady Group, Vietnam’s Company 72, and a subsidiary of the Hoang Anh Gia Lai Company (HAGL).
“The four companies have licences from the government . . . but what I am saying is that they are overstepping those licences,” said Udom Rasmey.
A spokesman for the Try Pheap Group declined to comment on the allegations, and the other three companies could not be reached.
“I would like to appeal to the government to take a look at them, because the provincial authorities do not dare to fight with them,” Udom Rasmey said.
Phan Phoeun, provincial deputy director of the Forestry Administration, said if the companies were given licences, their businesses were legal.
