NGOs Demand Funds From Closed Banks

By Saing Soenthrith

the cambodia daily

Nearly 200 disgruntled depositors demonstrated in front of the National Bank and other government buildings Wednesday, de­manding the return of nearly $3 million they lost when the government closed 11 banks last December.

The demonstrators, representing 17 different NGOs, called for the resignation of National Bank Governor Chea Chanto, whom they say allowed the Agricultural Commercial Bank of Cambodia to close without paying its depositors. The demonstrators also marched on the National As­sembly and the Council of Min­isters office, but no one came to speak to them at either place, or­ganizers said.

The NGOs had deposited mon­ey given them by international donors to fund such programs as treatment for AIDS and poverty alleviation for squatters in Phnom Penh. “We have no money to buy rice or medicine, and two clinics were shut down,” said Dy Ratha, director of Indra Devy, an organization that helps to give medicine to HIV and AIDS patients.

The organization lost $23,000 it had deposited in Agricultural Com­mercial when the bank closed on Dec 8, 2000.

AIDS patients at Indra Devy clinics were dying at the rate of 10 per month when there was enough money to medicate, Dy Ratha said. Since the loss of money and closure of clinics, that rate has doubled.

Protest organizers threatened to take their campaign abroad and online if the government is un­able to find their money.

“If the government continues to ignore this, we cannot rebuild our country,” said Seng Phally, ex­ec­utive director of the Cam­bodia Labor Organization, and now a representative for the De­positor’s Rights Protection Com­mittee.

Letters to Prime Minister Hun Sen, National Assembly Pres­ident Prince Norodom Rana­riddh, Senate President Chea Sim, and King Norodom Sihanouk have failed to bring about a resolution, Seng Phally said.

The National Bank and the Min­istry of Finance, in an effort to strengthen the banking sector, last year passed a law re­quiring banks to meet higher standards, including raising the minimum cap­ital investment to $13 million.

Eleven banks folded, began liquidating assets and recovering loans in order to pay depositors.

Jean-Jacques Brutschi, an economic expert overseeing the liquidation of six of those banks, including Agricultural Com­mercial, said so far only two banks—Great International Bank and Phnom Penh City Bank—had liquidated fully and paid their depositors in full. For Agricultural Commercial’s liquidation, total repayment “is out of the question,” he said.

Liquidation of that bank will take “a matter of months,” he said. The exact amount the bank can re­turn to depositors won’t be known until the process is complete, he said.

(Ad­di­tional reporting by Ham Samnang)