News
Complaint against sugar company withdrawn
More than 150 residents from Kampong Speu’s Oral district gathered at the Equitable Cambodia (EC) headquarters and the National Assembly on Friday to withdraw their complaints over land against the Phnom Penh Sugar Company, which is owned by magnate Ly Yong Phat. ...
Ven Rathavong
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/25516/complaint-against-sugar-company-withdrawn/
Families in land dispute with sugar firm reach $500 deal
More than 300 families in Kompong Speu province this week signed a deal with Senator Ly Yong Phat’s Phnom Penh Sugar Company aimed at ending their long-running land dispute, though several of the families have yet to agree on compensation. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-in-land-dispute-with-sugar-firm-reach-500-deal-112792/
Tycoon senator opens up on Thai power deal
Cambodia’s electricity generation reached 2.714 billion kilowatt hours last year, of which 1.851 million KWh was generated by hydro dams and 863.02 million KWh by coal-powered plants. Household access to electricity rose 18.8 percent, compared to 2013, according a report from Cambodia’s Electricity Authority. ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/19173/tycoon-senator-opens-up-on-thai-power-deal/
Cambodia okays LYP Group casinos' online gambling sites
Cambodia has given permission for three L.Y.P. Group casinos to launch online gambling operations.The L.Y.P. Group, which is run by Cambodian People’s Party Senator Ly Yong Phat, operates three casinos on the country’s border with Thailand; the Koh Kong Resort on the country’s southern coast, ...
Steven Stradbrooke
http://calvinayre.com/2015/11/19/casino/cambodia-okays-lyp-group-casino-online-gambling-sites/
Kampong Speu locals protest in long-running dispute
Several hundred villagers protested outside the Kampong Speu Provincial Hall yesterday, demanding the return of thousands lost to economic land concessions (ELCs) in a years-old land dispute with a Chinese company and a prominent tycoon. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kampong-speu-locals-protest-long-running-dispute
Ministry breaks ground on new tech institute
The Ministry of Education on Monday broke ground on a new Institute of Technology campus in Kompong Speu province’s Thpong district that officials said is being built with funds from the Thai royal family on land partially donated by agribusiness magnate Ly Yong Phat. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-breaks-ground-on-new-tech-institute-91900/
Tycoon compensates 135 families at SEZ
A long-running land dispute between more than 130 families and the company managing the Koh Kong Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is nearing its end, with only seven families left to sign the compensation agreement, officials confirmed yesterday. ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tycoon-compensates-135-families-sez-0
Safari world to move to Phnom Penh next year
Koh Kong Safari World, a curiosity wildlife park owned by tycoon and CPP senator Ly Yong Phat that hosts crocodile shows and orangutan boxing matches, will pack up in October and bring its spectacle to Phnom Penh early next year, according to an administrator. ...
Buth Kimsay and Simon Henderson
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/safari-world-to-move-to-phnom-penh-next-year-86988/
Sugar company says no child labor; workers say otherwise
Phnom Penh Sugar, among the most high-profile companies accused of using child labor in an industry beset by the practice, attempted to polish its image Thursday by hosting its third annual anti-child labor seminar here. ...
Hul Reaksmey and Alex Consiglio
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sugar-company-says-no-child-labor-workers-say-otherwise-78766/
Government planning massive memorial to Hun Sen’s legacy
Prime Minister Hun Sen has formed a 20-person committee to plan a sprawling memorial in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva district to ensure that his legacy is preserved for generations to come, according to a government order and officials on the committee. ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-planning-massive-memorial-to-hun-sens-legacy-78282/
Beverage companies wary of ‘blood sugar’ in supply chain
Two major US beverage companies say they are mindful of alleged human rights abuses amid sugar plantations in Cambodia and will not do business with those proven to be involved in them. Representatives from Coca-Cola and Pepsi both said in emails to VOA Khmer that they ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/beverage-companies-wary-of-blood-sugar-in-supply-chain/2647451.html
Families to rejoin protests against sugar farms
Villagers in Koh Kong province left out of compensation deals that some of their neighbors are receiving for land lost to sugar plantations have gathered about 300 signatures on a petition demanding to be included in the payouts and hope to gather more before submitting ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-to-rejoin-protests-against-sugar-farms-77251/
Families to rejoin protests against sugar farms
Villagers in Koh Kong province left out of compensation deals that some of their neighbors are receiving for land lost to sugar plantations have gathered about 300 signatures on a petition demanding to be included in the payouts and hope to gather more before submitting ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-to-rejoin-protests-against-sugar-farms-77251/
PM’s sister officially out of job
After issuing an extraordinarily public resignation announcement on her Facebook page last week, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s sister Hun Sinath has officially left her job at the Ministry of National Assembly-Senate Relations and Inspection. According to a Royal Decree that was signed on Monday, King ...
May Titthara
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/pm%E2%80%99s-sister-officially-out-job
Hun Sen’s sister resigns in protest
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s sister Hun Sinath has resigned from her job as a secretary of state over what she said was her colleagues’ fear of investigating a land dispute between villagers in Kampong Speu province and tycoon Ly Yong Phat. Sinath revealed her resignation ...
May Titthara
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/hun-sen%E2%80%99s-sister-resigns
Koh Kong community rep’s bail request denied
More than 100 demonstrators continued to stage an anti-eviction protest in front of Koh Kong province’s city hall after a jailed community leader was denied bail yesterday. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/koh-kong-community-rep%E2%80%99s-bail-request-denied
Clash at Koh Kong SEZ protest
A 60-year-old woman was injured and sent to hospital yesterday when police cracked down on anti-eviction protesters blocking a busy bridge in Koh Kong province, villagers said. More than 100 villagers locked in a dispute with the company that manages the Koh Kong Special Economic ...
Sen David and Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/clash-koh-kong-sez-protest
Lawyer swap delays ‘blood sugar’ trial in UK
The 200 Cambodian families suing U.K. firm Tate & Lyle in London over sugar the company has bought from a pair of local plantations accused of stealing their land have switched lawyers, delaying the start of the trial, which was expected to start this month. ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawyer-swap-delays-blood-sugar-trial-in-uk-69998/
Land-grab complaint against ANZ filed with OECD
NGOs have filed a new complaint against Australia’s ANZ Bank claiming it owes compensation to 681 Cambodian families who say their farms were illegally grabbed by a sugarcane plantation the bank helped to finance. ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/land-grab-complaint-against-anz-filed-with-oecd-69444/
Villagers questioned over dispute with senator
The Koh Kong Provincial Court questioned four villager representatives Tuesday over alleged violence and property damage in an ongoing land dispute with CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat’s Koh Kong Special Economic Zone company. ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-questioned-over-dispute-with-senator-67200/
ANZ says no to evicted Cambodian farmers
ANZ has ruled out helping hundreds of poor Cambodian families forcibly evicted from their land to make way for sugar-cane plantations that involved child labour and led to food shortages. Fairfax Media this year revealed confidential audits that disclosed that ANZ’s Cambodian subsidiary, ANZ Royal Bank, ...
Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/anz-says-no-to-evicted-cambodian-farmers-20140819-105sib.html
ANZ refuses to help evictees of senator’s sugarcane farm
About 100 villagers who lost land to a sugarcane plantation, which was until recently financed by ANZ Royal Bank, traveled to Phnom Penh to protest in front of the bank’s headquarters Thursday, but failed to convince the bank to help them. Several hundred families in Kompong ...
Aun Pheap and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/anz-refuses-to-help-evictees-of-senators-sugarcane-farm-66579/
ANZ hit by controversy in Cambodia
ANZ is facing calls for compensation over its funding of a Cambodian sugar mill linked to child labour, forced evictions and land grabs. Media reports on Monday said hundreds of Cambodian farmers had called on the bank to provide compensation for the land they lost due ...
Georgia Wilkins
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/10358069/ANZ-hit-by-controversy-in-Cambodia
Farmers threaten ANZ with protest, demand help
Farmers from Kompong Speu province handed ANZ Royal Bank a petition on Friday insisting it still had a responsibility to help mend the damage done by a sugar plantation in has helped finance, even though the bank and plantation recently parted ways. They threatened to start ...
Aun Pheap and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/farmers-threaten-anz-with-protest-demand-help-65597/