February 6th, 2009

Cambodian Mining, Oil And Corruption

Nothing new, I guess it is the same situation year after year, they just have to change the report’s completion date. Coming not as a surprise, Global Witness reports that the corrupt elite of Cambodia, one of the world’s most impoverished nations, has laid the groundwork for siphoning off vast profits from a coming boom in mining and oil exploitation.

Britain-based Global Witness said that rights to exploit the resources have been allocated behind closed doors by a small number of power brokers around Prime Minister Hun Sen and other senior officials.

Over the past few years, Cambodia has been buzzing with excitement — and anxiety — about an oil discovery by U.S. energy giant Chevron Corp. off the southwestern coast. There have also been discoveries of other minerals including bauxite, iron ore, copper and chromium, while onshore oil reserves are also being explored.

Some estimate that in coming years Cambodia may reap some $1 billion in annual oil revenues, enough to cut its ties to foreign development aid if the funds are properly utilized.

More than 75 companies, including such internationals as Chevron Corp. and BHP Billiton, were already working in the mining and oil sectors and have paid upfront sums to the government, the report said.

“Companies need to come clean on what they have paid to the government to secure access to these natural resources, or risk becoming complicit in a corrupt system,” the report said.

Of the mine sites investigated in 2008, Global Witness said every one was controlled or owned by members of Cambodia’s political and military elite, including top military commanders and relatives of Hun Sen and cabinet ministers.

The full report is available for download here [PDF - 4.5 MB]

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