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More surprising news today. It is alleged that top officials, including high-ranking police,are involved in the illegal timber trade between Mondulkiri and Vietnam.

Top Provincial Officials Mired in Timber Trafficking Probe
March 23, 2017

Mondolkiri’s top military, police and military police officials were questioned on Wednesday by a national task force over allegations that local authorities have been colluding with Vietnamese nationals to log illegally in Cambodia, according to an official.

It marks a significant expansion of the investigation the National Committee for Curbing and Combating Natural Resource Crimes is conducting into how six Vietnamese nationals arrested last month—just before crossing back into Vietnam with eight trucks packed with illegally logged timber—were allowed into the country. The police chiefs of two border checkpoints between Cambodia and Vietnam have already been suspended.

On Wednesday, Mondolkiri deputy governor Choeng Sochantha said the task force questioned four other top provincial officials in connection with the case throughout the day: provincial military commander Chhit Meng Sreng; Border Protection Military Unit 103 commander Yin Chanty; provincial military police commander Sak Sarang; and provincial police chief Touch Yun.

A March 9 letter from National Police commissioner Neth Savoeun to Interior Minister Sar Kheng, posted online by local media last week, implicates a total of 15 officials in the case as either colluding with Vietnamese loggers directly or taking payoffs from those who did, including Mr. Sarang. It says the bribes totaled about $170,000.

Cambodia placed a blanket ban on timber exports to Vietnam in January last year. But Vietnamese customs data obtained by the U.S. NGO Forest Trends indicates that the trade continues to thrive.
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/top- ... be-126911/

On the present crackdown, see also https://cambodiaexpatsonline.com/newswor ... 11-20.html

In yet another surprising event, The Cambodia Daily is publishing information direct from Fresh News, which is naming and shaming the top Mondulkiri military and police authorities that are allegedly involved in smuggling illegal timber from Mondulkiri province into Vietnam.
Less surprising is the fact that the allegations remain unsubstantiated, making them easier to retract in the future if necessary. This is not the first time that there have been fingers pointed at the authorities, and at some very highly connected businessmen, and it is always possible that all this naming and shaming turns out to be simply a terrible misunderstanding and will be retracted in a day or two.

Soldiers, Police in Mondolkiri Under Investigation for Wood Smuggling
June 21, 2017
The top military and police officials in Mondolkiri province have opened investigations into some of their soldiers and officers after a news story claimed they were involved in timber trafficking into Vietnam.

Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Brigadier General Chhit Meng Sreng and provincial police chief Toch Yon said they had launched the probe after government-aligned Fresh News on Tuesday claimed soldiers and officers were helping timber smugglers break a January 2016 ban on timber exports to Vietnam.

The Fresh News story accused Company I commander Kong Dam and one of his soldiers, Kim Chhong, of helping the smugglers. It also accuses Hoeun Sokna, police chief of Pech Chreada district’s Nam Lea checkpoint, and his deputy Samrith Noy of letting 20 to 30 cars loaded with timber into Vietnam every day.

Mr. Yon said he had opened an investigation into his officers as well, on orders from the provincial governor.
“[W]e will arrest them and send them to court if they are found to be involved,” Brig. Gen. Meng Sreng said.

The accused soldiers and officers could not be reached for comment.

The news story did not explain the basis for its claims. Fresh News director Lim Cheavutha said he was not familiar with the details of the story and referred questions to the outlet’s reporters in Mondolkiri, but declined to share their telephone numbers.

District governor Nguon Saran insisted the story was wrong...
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sold ... ng-131560/

Press accuses tycoons of illegal logging
27 December 2017
Local media in Mondulkiri province have accused established businessmen of being involved with logging in Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary.

Online newspaper Nokor Dragon said illegal logging became rampant in the national reserve, and claimed local tycoons Oeng Bunchin, San Choy, and Srieng Meng mobilized people to cut trees in the protected area for them to be sold over to Soeng Sam Ol’s Master K Sun company.

Reports also stated Mondulkiri provincial authorities turned a blind eye on such illegal activities, and were receiving bribes from the logging operations. ​Mr Sam Ol allegedly transported the logs to Vietnam using trucks with removed license plates.

Mr Sam Ol was formerly involved in a court case for similar illegal logging activities, and was called out directly by Prime Minister HE. He did not respond to multiple requests for comments...
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5098323/pre ... l-logging/

As accusations by Mondulkiri locals of cross-border illegal logging between Mondulkiri province and Vietnam continue, the provincial governor is in the line of fire. Recent statements from eye-witnesses directly contradict the assertions that the illegal timber trade between the two countries has ceased.

Smugglers Move Timber From Cambodia's Mondulkiri, Defying Government Warnings
2018-10-31
Smugglers working in collusion with corrupt officials on both sides of the border are continuing to move illegally harvested timber from Cambodia’s Mondulkiri province into neighboring Vietnam in spite of government warnings to halt the trade, sources in Cambodia say.

Loggers now use specially modified Toyota land cruisers to move their timber across the border, with as many as 30 vehicles—each carrying from four to six cubic meters of wood—crossing the border each night, a local villager told RFA’s Khmer Service on Oct. 31.

“The timber is transported to Vietnam, where it is bought by local depots,” Kroeung Tola, a Pnong villager in Pech Chreada district’s Bousra commune, said.

Area villagers believe local officials are behind the illegal trade, he added.

Addressing a public gathering on Sept. 23 in Battambang province, Cambodian Interior Minister Sar Kheng spoke out against the continued smuggling in Mondulkiri.

"I would like to send a message to the provincial governor there to resolve this issue," Sar Kheng said. "If not, he will face action."

Reached by RFA, deputy provincial governor Svay Sameang declined to comment, though he had told RFA at the end of August that he would not allow the smuggling of timber from Mondulkiri to continue.
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambod ... 61613.html

The only way it's going to change is to bring in the Tax Department. They have the power to do investigations into all persons to discover their asserts and income and seize everything that does not have a purchase receipt and where the money came from and went. It worked on Al Capone.

Duncan wrote: ↑Thu Nov 01, 2018 11:08 am The only way it's going to change is to bring in the Tax Department. They have the power to do investigations into all persons to discover their asserts and income and seize everything.

Fixed* for ya

February 11, 2019
Illegal logging denied in Mondulkiri province
The Mondulkiri agriculture department yesterday denied claims by an environmental activist that it allowed two private firms to transport timber to Vietnam.

Activist Heng Sros, 24, from the Cambodian Human Rights Task Force, yesterday said that the private companies received permission to transport high quality timber to Vietnam.

He said that one of the companies, Lim Royal Chorstok, transported timber mostly logged from protected areas in Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary to Vietnam.

“They have transported hundreds of cubic metres of timber to Vietnam,” he said.
The claims have been dismissed by the department.

He added that some ELC’s in Mondulkiri province don’t log timber in their concession zone, but instead transport timber logged in protected areas.

“They transport timber from protected areas into their concession zone and then legally send it to Vietnam as if it is theirs,” Mr Sros said.

Song Kheang, director of the Mondulkiri agriculture department, said two private companies , including Lim Royal Chorstok, are only allowed to transport timber within Cambodia and not to Vietnam.

“They have transported timber in their concession zone to supply the local market,” he said. “We have not given them the right to transport timber to Vietnam and the permission is only valid for three or four days.”
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50576716/i ... -province/

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: ↑Mon Feb 11, 2019 5:55 pm February 11, 2019
Illegal logging denied in Mondulkiri province
The Mondulkiri agriculture department yesterday denied claims by an environmental activist that it allowed two private firms to transport timber to Vietnam.

Activist Heng Sros, 24, from the Cambodian Human Rights Task Force, yesterday said that the private companies received permission to transport high quality timber to Vietnam.

He said that one of the companies, Lim Royal Chorstok, transported timber mostly logged from protected areas in Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary to Vietnam.

“They have transported hundreds of cubic metres of timber to Vietnam,” he said.
The claims have been dismissed by the department.

He added that some ELC’s in Mondulkiri province don’t log timber in their concession zone, but instead transport timber logged in protected areas.

“They transport timber from protected areas into their concession zone and then legally send it to Vietnam as if it is theirs,” Mr Sros said.

Song Kheang, director of the Mondulkiri agriculture department, said two private companies , including Lim Royal Chorstok, are only allowed to transport timber within Cambodia and not to Vietnam.

“They have transported timber in their concession zone to supply the local market,” he said. “We have not given them the right to transport timber to Vietnam and the permission is only valid for three or four days.”
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50576716/i ... -province/

Quote]
he said. “We have not given them the right to transport timber to Vietnam and the permission is only valid for three or four days.”


Another google translate.

Duncan wrote:The only way it's going to change is to bring in the Tax Department. They have the power to do investigations into all persons to discover their asserts and income and seize everything that does not have a purchase receipt and where the money came from and went. It worked on Al Capone.

The Cambodian Taxation Department? The head of which has a luxury house address in Australia? There was an interview/expose of him recently.

Wouldn’t hold my breath.

March 14, 2019
HE orders Sao Sokha to curb timber smuggling across the borders
Prime Minister HE has called on relevant authorities to continue curbing illegal smuggling of timer across borders and protect natural resources.

Speaking during a closing conference at the Agriculture Ministry today, Mr HE ordered National military police commander General Sao Sokha in charge of National Committee for National Resource Crime Prevention to continue to crack down on forest crimes across the borders.

“Please Excellency Sao Sokha continue to protect natural resources, especially preventing and stamping out the smuggling of timer across illegal corridors,” he said.

In 2017, the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency called for a rosewood trade suspension against Vietnam, accusing it of accepting fake Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species permits from Cambodia.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/586846/hun ... e-borders/