Whereabouts of siezed Cambodia timber feared

By Lauren Crothers

PHNOM PENH (AA) - More than 60,000 cubic meters of illegally logged wood, seized by a unit established in 2016 to crack down on the practice, have been sold for nearly $15 million to a private buyer in Cambodia.

The sale has left environmental advocates concerned about that most of the wood may have been smuggled into Vietnam, where demand is strong and a significant part of the reason why deforestation in Cambodia was higher between 2011 and 2014 than anywhere else in the world.

The Cambodia Daily said Monday that the task force, which was created at the start of the year, has seized about 70,000 cubic meters and that 10,000 cubic meters were sold to three buyers in August.

The latest sale was finalized Friday, the Daily said, quoting a Finance Ministry official.

The buyer, who owns an import company, spent $14.8 million on 60,393 cubic meters of illegally logged timber, which he said he intends to turn into furniture after receiving a sawmill license.

The report, however, said there are concerns that the wood has been smuggled into Vietnam.

Ouch Leng, this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize Winner and chairman of the Cambodia Human Rights Task Force, told Anadolu Agency on Monday that he also believes the sales are a “new trick of the government to provide licenses for timber to be exported” as well as encouraging the opening of more sawmills; something he has campaigned against.

“We would like to push the government to close the sawmills, but they provide licenses and economic land concessions and timber from protected areas goes there,” he said.

“It’s the main cause of deforestation, and the government needs to consider it.”

Asked about the perceived successes of the new task force -- which is headed by National Military Police Commander Sao Sokha, who was accused in 2004 by Global Witness as being a key figure in the wood smuggling business -- Leng said he’s not convinced.

“I don’t believe Sao Sokha and the military police have cracked down, because a lot of the owners come from the armed forces too, so that is a problem,” he said, adding that his team continues to observe about 20 trucks a night, laden with wood, leaving protected areas.

The task force was set up in January and by April had already touted its successes with the 70,000 cubic meters of wood and 51 cases brought against perpetrators as a selling point.

Sokha has always denied any links with the illegal logging trade.