THE Prime Ministers have personally signed over a million cubic meters of timber
to 17 Thai companies, in three separate deals marked "confidential."
The deals, struck in January and February, follow Jan 18 talks in Bangkok between
Agriculture Minister Tao Seng Huor and Thai Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
Chavalit Yongchaiyuth.
Prime Ministers Prince Ranariddh and Hun Sen told Thai PM Banharn Silapa-archa that
the timber had already been cut before the April 1995 logging and export ban.
However, Seng Huor's own ministry's records show that there's only 331,000 cubic
meters of felled timber left in the Kingdom.
British environmental lobbyists Global Witness have confirmed that many of the Thai
companies which appear on the Government's "million meter" list are cutting
trees again.
This was a departure, done in secret, from the Government's logging ban, Global Witness
directors Patrick Alley and Simon Taylor said.
Taylor and Alley also obtained a copy of a permit "officially" stamped
by the "Khmer Rouge Government", given to one of the same Thai companies
on the Royal Government's concession list. It is signed by "Timber Selling Committee
No. 909" and was issued on March 3, expiring four months later.
Alley and Taylor said the Thais were "gearing up" for freshly cut timber
from Cambodia. They had seen documents from the Thai Foreign Ministry to local customs
offices telling officers to expect the timber so it can be taxed.
Some of the Thai logging companies were new in the area, so couldn't possibly have
pre-felled timber inside Cambodia, they said.
Alley and Taylor were told that "fresh timber" would be available within
weeks.
A million cubic meters of wood equates to about 200,000 trees - and at world market
prices, worth anything from $350 million to $600 million or more.
"The question must be asked where all the money's going," Alley said.
The documents don't say how much income Cambodia expects to receive. They don't mention
any money at all, other than to say that timber tax will be paid into the Ministry
of Finance.
Seng Huor said the deals were "in principle only", and he agreed that there
was nothing like a million cubic meters of timber in Cambodia already felled before
the Government ban.
He said the Thai companies had told the Government how much felled timber they reckoned
they had, and Ranariddh and Hun Sen signed the deals on the understanding that Cambodian
authorities would verify this. The logging companies would have to prove the quantity
and quality of their reserves before they took a single log across the border, he
said.
There would be no fresh cutting of trees, he said.
"If they say [they have] 10,000 m3, but only show us 1,000 m3, we will accept
only 1,000m3," Seng Huor said, adding that the timber would be re-checked on
the Thai side as per his agreement with Chavalit.
Seng Huor also said he had whole files of applications from Thai companies, saying
they had old logs to bring out of Cambodia.
The tax the Thai companies will pay to Treasury would depend on the amount and quality
of the timber exported, he said.
On average, Treasury only gets about $35 per cubic meter in royalties, according
to Global Witness figures confirmed by international bankers spoken to by the Post.
Global Witness have previously recorded a conversation with a Thai logging official
who said that cash from timber is split between Thai and Cambodian officials - including
the Prime Ministers and Seng Huor, and others - the military, the Khmer Rouge, and
the logging companies' own profit.
International donors contacted by the Post had heard "rumors" of logging
deals having been struck with the Thais.
When presented with proof, one donor chief said he "would watch with interest"
to see whether such a large, "unexpected" windfall would find its way into
the State coffers.
Treasury revenue estimates approved in November by the Council of Ministers show
that only around $11 million in forestry revenue is expected for 1996 - the amount
being so low because the logging ban is still to be in place. This includes income
from illegal logs seized by authorities and auctioned.
Aid donors - preparing for July's Donors' Consultative Group meeting in Toyko where
Cambodian aid would be discussed - are losing patience with the Government over logging.
"If the Government is selling natural resourses in excess of $100 million, and
the money doesn't get to the Budget, then the taxpayers in Japan, the United States,
Australia and everywhere else would be entitled to ask why are they are giving money
to Cambodia," said one high-ranking donor official.
Despite Seng Huor saying there was no new cutting going one, Global Witness visited
the Thai border rest areas and has proof there is. The donor official said it appeared
that the Thai deals were not consistent with Cambodia's export and cutting ban. "It's
horrible," he said of the deal, "but it's their resourse, they can do what
they want."
The secrecy of the deal has been criticized, especially at a time when "transparency"
is being sought.
"If the deals signal an end to the logging ban, then why was there no public
or Parliamentary discussion," one source said.
"If they needed to cut trees to get money to feed the poor, why wasn't it done
in the open, under debate? And why are these deals marked 'Confidential'?"
The Thai concessions are in "hostile" territory along the western border,
much of it Khmer Rouge-held.
Alley said it was impossible to follow International Tropical Timber Organisation
(ITTO) guidelines of "control and supervision" in such areas, a convention
Ranariddh consistently claims Cambodia adheres to.
Despite donor impatience, they still find themselves hamstrung to do much about it.
World Bank representatives overseas have said privately that the Government is "unwilling
to compromise" over its logging practises, according to sources.
They quote Bank officials saying that the Government should get a good lawyer to
renegotiate its logging deals.
"The sincerity of the Royal Government is in doubt... it all depends on Hun
Sen controlling the army's logging operations," Bank officials told one Western
source.
The Bank, the IMF and other donors are likely to tell the government in Tokyo to
"pause, hold and review" its logging concessions.
A critical World bank/IMF report on logging has recently been given to the government
(it's Executive Summary review on Page 5).
The Ministry of Finance - whose minister Keat Chhon will be asked the "hard
questions" about logging at the donors meeting - has signed the report. Seng
Hour, it is understood, has yet to sign it. He told the Post he hoped to sign it
by this week.
Seng Hour, severely criticized in a new Global Witness report as denying the Ministry
of Finance information on timber revenues, is "feeling the heat," according
to one Western source quoting the World Bank.
Alley and Taylor have lobbied donors in Europe and America in the past three months,
calling for "positive" conditionality on aid.
For a variety of reasons - and despite donors' concerns - putting conditions on aid
is unlikely to happen. "They say 'if we cut aid it will only affect the poor
sections of the community'," Alley said. "We're telling [donors] that if
the forests go, then that very same section will be hurt anyway. It's not like the
money is flowing into their pockets now anyway."
Donors are also worried that if they stand alone calling for aid conditions, they
would be criticized by Cambodia. "We're telling donors to do it all together,"
Alley said.
Hun Sen has already effectively told donors to give aid and shut up, or don't give
any aid at all. Sources say Hun Sen can say this because the government stands to
get more money from timber than it would from many donors.
"It's a just question of mathematics," said one.
Multi-lateral donors say a timber export ban doesn't work because it "retards
rent capture" - that is, forests will always be cut, and all a ban does is to
stop money from timber from going into the State budget.
"The World Bank and the IMF want 'controlled' exports. We say that's crazy...
if [the Government] can't control a ban, how can they control a control? The ban
has got to be enforced without exception," Alley said.
Global Witness has also called for all existing timber concession to be terminated
and renegotiated, and a full forest inventory carried out.
The present situation - where the Prime Ministers and Agriculture Minister Seng Hour
have full authority to award concessions - must change, Alley said.
"The Ministry of Finance do not possess sufficient authority and information
to capture even a fraction of timber revenue," Alley said.
Contact PhnomPenh Post for full article
Post Media Co LtdThe Elements Condominium, Level 7
Hun Sen Boulevard
Phum Tuol Roka III
Sangkat Chak Angre Krom, Khan Meanchey
12353 Phnom Penh
Cambodia
Telegram: 092 555 741
Email: [email protected]