Senator Tries to Settle Court Case With Cash
CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat visited families embroiled in a long-standing land dispute with a Thai-owned sugar company on Monday in an attempt to convince them to drop their complaints against the firm at the court, villagers and officials said yesterday. The visit comes as pressure on the sugar plantation – which Mr. Yong Phat used to part own – has been ratcheting up of late, with non-governmental groups helping thousands of families affected by the farms to launch the Clean Sugar Campaign in the hope they will get their land back. The families accuse the sugar plantations of abusing their land rights and not compensating them properly…. The dispute in Koh Kong has drawn the attention of officials in the European Union, who have highlighted that the sugar produced at Koh Kong plantation may be taking advantage of duty-free access to Europe under a scheme known as Everything But Arms.
