Firm buying Boeng Kak land claims no knowledge of evictions
A Singapore-based firm whose subsidiary plans to buy land in Phnom Penh from which thousands of families have been forcibly evicted said Wednesday that the firm had no knowledge of the long-running land dispute. The firm, HLH Group, also denied any official or financial ties to a sister of Prime Minister Hun Sen, to whom it has been linked in the past. On Friday, HLH posted an announcement with the Singapore stock exchange that a new subsidiary, D’Lotus Development, had agreed to buy 1.35 hectares in central Phnom Penh for $14.9 million. … The evictions have sparked dozens of protests across central Phnom Penh, some of them bloodily broken up by state security forces. The dispute has been grabbing local and international headlines for years. On Wednesday, however, HLH Group’s CEO and executive deputy chairman, Johnny Ong Bee Huat, who has been working in the country for the past six years, said his firm had no idea of the controversy surrounding the land. …
Zsombor Peter and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/firm-buying-boeng-kak-land-claims-no-knowledge-of-evictions-62463/
