New twist in Cambodian sugar firm saga
Taiwanese food supplier Ve Wong, one of two sugar company owners locked in a long-running battle with villagers in Koh Kong’s Sre Ambel district, has made an eyebrow-raising offer – to give the disputed land back. The company’s offer, posted to the non-profit Business and Human Rights Resource Centre’s website, comes with one major caveat: proof that the disputed hectares – part of a large economic land concession area granted to the firm in 2006 – were acquired illegally. … The adjacent concessions granted to Koh Kong Plantation Co and Koh Kong Sugar Industry Co total 9,400 and 9,700 hectares respectively, are for the same operation, they argue, and thus are effectively one ELC. Based on official documents publicly released on the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries website, both companies occupy the same office space and were approved on the same day for the two concessions owned in a joint venture by KSL and Ve Wong. …
