Officials Differ on Equipment Confiscation
Forestry Administration officials in Banteay Meanchey province have confiscated and continue to hold equipment valued at $1.5 million from a troubled biofuel plantation without any legal backing, an official in the provincial governor’s office said. Bulldozers, steamrollers and dump trucks were confiscated last month from a plantation in Svay Chek district being developed by U.K.-based company Sustainable Agro Energy, which is under investigation for fraud in the U.K. The provincial governor, Oung Oeun, met on Wednesday with Sam Ourm, the director of the Sustainable Agro Energy’s Cambodian arm, and a representative for Mao Malay, the wife of Deputy Prime Minister Ke Kim Yan and owner of the economic land concession where the plantation is located, Mr. Oeun’s cabinet chief, Ouk Keo Ratanak, said last week. …
