ANZ Bank severs relationship with Phnom Penh Sugar

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OrangeDragon
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ANZ Bank severs relationship with Phnom Penh Sugar

Post by OrangeDragon »

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/busines ... 45dbb84811
However, the relationship broke down over the company’s inadequate response to a detailed project plan developed by ANZ, which was designed to remedy longstanding concerns about the use of child labour, forced evictions and military-backed land grabs.

Those practices were condemned by non-government ­organisations in Cambodia and became the subject of media headlines in Australia last ­January.
And an Embassy leak detailing the guy who runs it, Ly Yong Phat:
------------------------------------
Ly Yong Phat: "The King of Koh Kong"
------------------------------------
¶4. (SBU) A prominent Cambodian-Thai dual citizen, Ly Yong
Phat was born in Koh Kong on January 7, 1958 under the name
of Phat Suphapha. He is nicknamed "The King of Koh Kong,"
for his prominence in his home province, which is located in
southwestern Cambodia bordering Thailand. Although he never
went beyond high school, Ly Yong Phat amassed a large fortune
from importing and exporting cigarettes, generating
electricity, and running casinos and resorts. He has good
relations with businessmen and government officials on both
sides of the Cambodian-Thai border, including particularly
close ties to Cambodian officials of Thai heritage such as
Defense Minister Tea Banh, Navy Commander Tea Vinh, and Koh
Kong Governor Yuth Phouthang. Sihanoukville Governor Say Hak
is his cousin.

¶5. (SBU) As he currently serves as a CPP Senator and advisor
to Prime Minister HE, Ly Yong Phat boasts to visitors
that he was personally appointed to develop his home
province, Koh Kong. He also sits on the board of the
Cambodian Red Cross, headed by HE's wife. He is the CEO
and Chairman of the cigarette distributor Hero King Co. Ltd,
an administrator and majority shareholder of Koh Kong Sugar
Industry Co., Ltd, and the Koh Kong Plantation Co., Ltd. The
Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) (PROTECT) reported
that, after receiving land concessions that exceed the legal
limit of 10,000 hectares from the government in 2006, Ly Yong
Phat used his influence to send armed military police forces
to grab land from villagers and to clear their lands by
burning down their crops and trees. He speaks Khmer, Thai,
and Chinese dialects.
http://wikileaks.org/cable/2007/08/07PHNOMPENH1034.html


It's good to see some banks stepping up and telling these companies that if they want to be crooks that they're not going to do it with the bank's money.
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Re: ANZ Bank severs relationship with Phnom Penh Sugar

Post by OrangeDragon »

(That wikileak has some pretty nice bio info on a number of people... I love the nicknames, lol.)
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Re: ANZ Bank severs relationship with Phnom Penh Sugar

Post by Anchor Moy »

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-23/a ... -a/5214362

It became an embarassment for the ANZ once it hit the mainstream news in Australia. Public opinion was upset by the Australian funding of human rights abuses. It was a smart public relations move by the ANZ - and it was the right thing to do. Pity that everyone is not so clued up - as far as I know, the EU continues to encourage abuses in Cambodia through its preferential trade scheme and lack of oversight.

http://babcambodia.org/developmentwatch ... rsweet.pdf
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Re: ANZ Bank severs relationship with Phnom Penh Sugar

Post by starkmonster »

I wonder why despite Tate and Lyle repeatedly saying they will break contract with KSL if evidence is forthcoming that third party assessment was incorrect and the concession was granted illegally that no documentation or hard evidence has been presented anywhere?

With so many NGO's working on this and no less than three websites dedicated to this dispute why have none posted evidence to back up the accusations?
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Re: ANZ Bank severs relationship with Phnom Penh Sugar

Post by Anchor Moy »

starkmonster wrote:I wonder why despite Tate and Lyle repeatedly saying they will break contract with KSL if evidence is forthcoming that third party assessment was incorrect and the concession was granted illegally that no documentation or hard evidence has been presented anywhere?

With so many NGO's working on this and no less than three websites dedicated to this dispute why have none posted evidence to back up the accusations?
Wonder no longer... this seems to answer your question.

Claim between Song Mao & Others and Tate & Lyle.
http://www.earthrights.org/sites/defaul ... -Claim.pdf

I can't copy a direct quote from the pdf, but article 14.5 says that in 2008 and 2009 the Community Legal Education Centre informed the Koh Kong companies of the illegality of their operations and provided evidence of the villagers' ownership.
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Re: ANZ Bank severs relationship with Phnom Penh Sugar

Post by starkmonster »

Do you also have a link to the mentioned annex that contains the maps? Also what was the evidence provided? Was it land titles or was it just a reference to the land law regarding ownership rights of those in position of uncontested land prior to the land law?

Sorry to sound sceptical, but I think NGO's need to do a much better job of backing up their claims with documents and verifiable evidence rather than just repeating previous claims and news reports of such claims in a circular fashion. Especially in light of recent developments regarding human rights NGOs fabricating and misrepresenting facts in order to increase funding.

If this land concession was granted illegally then they need to provide the following:

- Documentation that proves the land in question was not demarcated as state land prior to 1996
- Proof that the residents in questions had been present on the land since at least 1996 (satellite imagery can verify this)
- Maps showing the location of the land claimed by the farmers
- If the land was not demarcated as state land prior to 2001 then evidence that it was not in contention for the five years prior

Whether the land concession is in breach of the law due to its size is only relevant to the status of the ownership of the ELC not the ownership rights of the villagers.
Last edited by starkmonster on Tue Jul 08, 2014 9:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: ANZ Bank severs relationship with Phnom Penh Sugar

Post by OrangeDragon »

starkmonster wrote: Sorry to sound sceptical, but I think NGO's need to do a much better job of backing up their claims with documents and verifiable evidence rather than just repeating previous claims and news reports of such claims in a circular fashion. Especially in light of recent developments regarding human rights NGOs fabricating and misrepresenting facts in order to increase funding.
Outrage and calls to action raise much more money than successes.
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Re: ANZ Bank severs relationship with Phnom Penh Sugar

Post by Anchor Moy »

I don't think that the ANZ is the type of business that does "outrage", or reacts to unfounded rumours; neither do Coca-cola and PepsiCo. However, they are all concerned by the accusations of land-grabbing by sugar companies in Cambodia.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/ ... 3320140227
I would assume that these companies' lawyers studied the case before any statements were made or decisions taken; therefore that there is some foundation to the villagers' claims.

The case of the Koh Kong villagers and Tate & Lyle is before a UK court - if the evidence (relating to the villagers' right to the land) is accepted there, then it is presumably trustworthy. The case will be decided in court, not over the internet.
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Re: ANZ Bank severs relationship with Phnom Penh Sugar

Post by OrangeDragon »

I mean from donors to NGOs. I was addressing their motivations for actually stopping the acts they fight against. If they were 100% able to stop land grabbing here... what would they do for a living?
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