How Cambodia’s secretive timber auctions are fueling the illegal logging trade
In the predawn hours of May 6, a flatbed truck packed with lengths of illegally logged timber sped past a checkpoint in Ratanakkiri province, knocking aside a police car and racing off. Police later tracked down the truck to a house in Banlung City. In the raid that followed, two men jumped a fence and got away. But they had left behind their illicit haul—5 cubic meters of luxury-grade timber, including more than a ton of especially rare rosewood, coveted for its hard, blood-red grain. By law, the government will have to put the wood up for public auction, just as it must with all the timber it seizes from illegal loggers across the country, and deposit the proceeds with the state treasury. But there is scant evidence that any real auctions ever happen, and there is nothing public about them. Government officials charged with running the auctions and signing off on the winning bids refuse to provide a full explanation of the process. Based on what they will say, the government has continued to sell tens of millions of dollars worth of timber at bargain rates to a businessman who recently served as an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen. The man heading the committee approving the secretive sales is the prime minister’s personal assistant. NGOs trying to monitor Cambodia’s thriving illegal logging trade say they have never seen or heard any trace of an actual auction and have been kept completely out of the loop. Environmental protection groups say the practice is prone to abuse, actually helps fuel illegal logging, and should stop. Some suggest sending the wood up in flames. …
Zsombor Peter and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/how-cambodias-secretive-timber-auctions-are-fueling-the-illegal-logging-trade-63919/
