Opposition asks Sok An to open the books on oil and mining payments
The opposition SRP has called on the government to explain its dealings with Australian miner BHP Billiton and French oil firm Total, particularly over payments both firms made to do business in Cambodia.
SRP lawmaker Son Chhay wrote yesterday to Cabinet Minister Sok An asking him to provide in writing details of a $28 million payment made to the government in January by Total, and of how that money is to be spent.
Mr Sok An, who is chairman of the national petroleum authority, is also asked to explain allegations of corruption made against BHP that many believe are linked to Cambodia and stem from comments by Minister of Water Resources Lim Kean Hor in 2007, referring to a $2.5 million payment from BHP as “tea money.”
Mr Chhay’s letter, which contains a total of seven questions, asks Mr Sok An to clarify how the government manages revenues from the oil, gas and mining industries in its so-called “social fund” and to explain the regulatory principles behind how licenses are allocated to private companies involved in the extractive industries.
The letter also seeks to know when the government plans to submit a draft law on the management and exploitation of oil. The Cambodia National Petroleum Authority is currently drafting the law.
“We want to have a written answer,” said Yim Sovann, spokesman for the SRP. “We want the government to be transparent. We are suspicious of corruption, we are demanding that the government clarify the information.”
By late yesterday afternoon, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said he had not received any letter from Mr Chhay and, therefore, could not comment on its contents.
Koam Kosal, cabinet chief for Heng Samrin, president of the National Assembly, also said he had not received a copy of the letter. Mr Samrin must first approve the letter if it is ever to be officially released.
The latest bout of questioning over the government’s record on transparency came after investigations were launched in Britain and the US into payments BHP reportedly made to the Cambodian government in 2006. Aid and environmental groups have also called on the government to release information on Total’s payments, announced for the first time by Prime Minister Hun Sen last Tuesday.
Mr Hun Sen said that $20 million of Total’s money was for a signature bonus and the remaining $8 million was to contribute to a social fund.
Phenelope Semavoine, spokeswoman for Total, confirmed this week that the payments had been made to the government. She declined, however, to say how much had been paid so far due to a “confidentiality agreement” between Total and the government. She also declined to say what specific projects the social fund would support or what arm of the government controls the fund, citing the premature state of that agreement with the government.
There is still no public information as to how such social funds work, how much they amount to or how the money is allocated, say NGOs monitoring Cambodia’s extractive industries.
In 1995 the government set up the “Social Fund of the Kingdom of Cambodia,” which was backed by the World Bank. But this project came to its natural end in March 2005.
Earlier this week CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap, chairman of the National Assembly’s Commission on Economy, Finance, Banking and Audit, said that once the government’s social fund came to an end in 2005, it was transferred to the state-owned Rural Development Bank and remains under the control of the bank’s CEO, Sun Koun Thor.
Officials at the RDB said this week that Mr Koun Thor was in France until May 18 and was the only official at the bank authorized to speak to the media.
According to the RDB’s website, both the Asian Development Bank and the international aid association Gret are partners of the bank.
Kim Chantha, spokesman for the ADB in Cambodia, said yesterday that although the ADB had been involved with training staff at the CNPA, the bank doesn’t “have any involvement or knowledge about the social fund or how it is being managed.”
Cedric Salze, country representative for Gret in Cambodia, said he was aware that the Rural Development Bank was managing a “social fund” when his organization was involved in a project in 2006 involving micro-credit loans to rubber farmers.
“I know that this fund was located over there,” he said, adding that he did not know what had happened to the fund since 2006.
Mam Sambath, executive director for the NGO Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency, backed Mr Chhay’s letter yesterday, saying open information regarding the contents and organization of the government’s social fund was still not publicly available.
Mr Sambath said that the government should disclose information on how the social fund is managed and who is directly involved in allocating its funds. He also said that the government should publish monthly updates on the fund’s balance and expenditures on the website of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
“It is good that the public has information on the social fund and how it is used,” he said. “If people have information on that then they can participate in public debate on how the revenues are spent.”
“As I understand [public consultation of] the revenues of the social fund has not been considered yet,” Mr Sambath said.
While scrutiny over BHP and Total is currently on the agenda, there are other Vietnamese and Chinese companies operating in Cambodia that have never disclosed any information on payments made to the government, he added.
