Bank comes under scrutiny

Photo by: Marisa Reichert

A motorbike passes by PHSME Specialized Bank Ltd on Norodom Boulevard in Phnom Penh yesterday.

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Friday, 01 April 2011 15:03Mary Kozlovski

The chairwoman and majority shareholder of a Phnom Penh specialised bank has been indicted in Canada for allegedly laundering tens of millions of dollars in drug money, highlighting concerns about the Kingdom’s financial regulatory capacity.

Cambodian-born Lech Leng Ky, chairwoman and majority shareholder of Peng Heng SME Ltd – a specialised bank that has operated in Phnom Penh for the past decade – is on trial in Montreal with her husband, Chun Sy Veng.

They are charged with allegedly running what Canadian prosecutors have described as “a sophisticated money-laundering system”, Canadian daily The Globe and Mail reported last week. The pair has a long history in the Cambodian banking sector, having previously run a bank that was closed down by the government in 1995 amid allegations of money laundering.

Despite this fact, Peng Heng SME Ltd received a licence from the National Bank of Cambodia in 2001.

The Globe and Mail said prosecutors in Montreal alleged that Lech opened Peng Heng SME in Phnom Penh with money borrowed from Daniel Muir, a drug trafficker who was murdered in Montreal in February 2004.

Nguon Sokha, director general and spokeswoman at the National Bank of Cambodia, said NBC officials were trying to reach representatives at Peng Heng.

“We are aware of the issues that you have mentioned about the Peng Heng bank and our supervisor is now looking into this issue [and] to what extent it is a problem,” said Nguon Sokha.

General manager of Peng Heng SME, Pech Vannthoeun, said that Peng Heng provided loans to small and medium enterprises and confirmed Lech Leng Ky’s involvement in the bank.

“[Lech Leng Ky] is still a 70-percent shareholder,” said Pech Vannthoeun. “She is still chairperson.”

A specialised bank is a financial institution with a lower capital requirement than a commercial bank and which does not take deposits. As of 2009, there were five such licensed institutions in Cambodia.

Pech Vannthoeun declined to comment on the Montreal case, saying that Lech Leng Ky visited Peng Heng once “a long time ago” but was not involved in the bank’s day-to-day operations.

“[Lech Leng Ky] is not in Cambodia,” said Pech Vannthoeun. “I just report to another shareholder so I haven’t [been] involved with her.”

Prosecutors in Canada have alleged Lech Leng Ky and Chun Sy Veng were running a money-laundering system through two companies in Montreal – Peng Heng Or Gold Inc and A&A Services Monétaires Inc – when they were approached by Muir in the early 2000s, according to The Globe and Mail.

Muir reportedly entrusted about C$100 million (US$103 million) to Lech Leng Ky, and Lech Leng Ky and Chun Sy Veng moved the money overseas by “wiring bank drafts to Cambodia” and purchasing “more than [C]$10 million in diamonds … that were then sent to Hong Kong, Thailand and Cambodia”.

The pair was about to fly to Cambodia in October 2002 when agents at Montreal’s airport found US$600,000 in $100 bills in Chun Sy Veng’s luggage, and they were eventually arrested in January 2005 after returning from a trip to Cambodia.

In 1995, Chun Sy Veng was the chairperson and Lech Leng Ky owned a 20 percent stake in the Credit Bank of Cambodia, which had its assets seized and licence revoked by the central bank on May 6 1995, less than one year after the bank opened for business in Phnom Penh. Lech Leng Ky resurfaced in the banking sector following Peng Heng SME Ltd’s receipt of a licence from the National Bank of Cambodia in 2001.

Article 18 of the 1999 Law on Banking and Financial Institutions states that no one can be a member of a board of directors or supervisory board of a bank if they have been involved in the management of a bank whose licence has been withdrawn after disciplinary action.

“I think [Credit Bank of Cambodia] violated our banking law on 15 points including lack of reporting … and not having enough capital or equity,” said Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Tioulong Saumura, who at the time was serving as deputy governor of the central bank.

Credit Bank of Cambodia closed after Canadian securities firm Marleau Lemire said that CBC owed them US$1.5 million after the bank “failed to meet a margin call on the Chicago futures market”, according to the Far Eastern Economic Review.

FEER revealed Lech Leng Ky had been indicted in Canada in October 1994 on two counts of money laundering and had her assets frozen and that then central bank governor, Thor Peng Leath, had been implicated in CBC’s operations.

Tioulong Saumura said she was warned about Lech Leng Ky and Chun Sy Veng in advance of CBC’s closure by the Canadian ambassador to the Kingdom.

“[The ambassador] said that Canada may need assistance or cooperation from Cambodia, from the central bank, and it was him who told me that …[Lech Leng Ky and Chun Sy Veng] had been prosecuted …on grounds of money laundering,” said Tioulong Saumura.

Nguon Sokha said the NBC weighs a variety of factors when making licensing decisions.

“[We look at] the minimal capital but we also look at the shareholders, the capacity and competency of the management,” said Nguon Sokha, declining to comment specifically on Peng Heng’s licence.

A report issued last month by the United States State Department said that the Kingdom’s dollarised economy and the “limited capacity of the National Bank of Cambodia to oversee the fast growing financial and banking industries” create a climate that is highly conducive to money laundering.

Despite the passage of anti-money laundering legislation in 2007, the report also states that investigative and prosecutorial infrastructure in Cambodia is weak, with no money laundering prosecutions or convictions since 2007.

Mey Vann, director of the financial industry department at the Ministry of Economy and Finance and member of the NBC Financial Intelligence Unit’s anti-money laundering committee, said the government would work with Canadian authorities to verify the allegations against Lech Leng Ky and Chun Sy Veng.

Tioulong Saumura said that in most other countries, Peng Heng would never have been issued a banking licence.

“We have had a number of banking licences given like sweets,” said Tioulong Saumura. “You can’t hope that the population is going to trust a bank which is led by somebody who is prosecuted for a financial crime.”

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Strike at sportswear factory continues

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Friday, 01 April 2011 15:03Mom Kunthear

About 1,000 workers continued to strike for a sixth consecutive day at the 8 Star Sportswear Ltd yesterday, demanding the company pay workers a US$2 per month attendance incentive fee on top of two concessions already made.

Phim Chamnan, law coordinator for the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, said almost all of 8 Star’s workforce had joined the strike at their factory in Meanchey district’s Stung Meanchey commune and had vowed to continue to do so until the company met their final demands.

“The three points that the workers have demanded from the company are an additional $2 more for an attendance incentive and 2,300 riels for food and holiday [leave] for the Khmer New Year from April 12 to 18,” he said.

Nou Mun, administrative director at 8 Star, said yesterday that the attendance incentive was unreasonable on top of the two demands the company had already granted and vowed to take the issue to higher authorities.

“We will take legal measures by sending the case to the Arbitration Council to resolve it for us, and we will respect the decision of the Arbitration Council,” he said.

Workers already received and $8 per month incentive for arriving on time, he said.

He added that workers and were creating headaches for the company by making excessive demands.

Heang Sreylin, a 30-year-old employee at 8 Star, warned that strikes would continue indefinitely until they caved in to the final demand.

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Photo by: Heng Chivoan

Riot police provide security yesterday while homes are dismantled in Tuol Kork village, in Russei Keo district’s Tuol Sangke commune.

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Friday, 01 April 2011 15:03Meas Sokchea

Roughly 200 armed military police and police from Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district descended upon Tuol Sangke commune’s Tuol Kork village yesterday to enforce a Supreme Court ruling in favor of a former Funcinpec minister, demolishing the homes of forty-two families, who said they had lived on the land for years.

“I don’t know where I will live, I have only this spot,” Kun Sunlok, a local villager, said yesterday. She said she had bought the land legally, and claimed she spent more than US$100,000 to build the home she has lived in for seven years. “It is equal to my life,” she said.

The action, carried out in coordination with Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor Hing Bun Chea and Russey Keo district governor Khlaing Huot, enforced a 2007 verdict in favour of Khun Haing, a former Funcincpec Minister of Religions and Cults who is now a member of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

Residents said they had built their homes with permission from commune authorities, and pointed out that construction had taken place over a significant period of time.

“The village chief and commune chief allowed people to build, then people built homes with two or three floors,” resident Nget Thyda said. “If it is the land dispute of Excellency Khun Haing, why didn’t he oppose [construction] when people started?”

Hing Bun Chea said he was merely enforcing a court ruling.

“I don’t know if he bought the land from anyone, I am enforcing the verdict to take the land to give to Khun Haing,” he said.

Khlaing Huot informed reporters that the enforcement was rectifying a land-grab by a “powerful man”, who had then sold the land to locals.

“This area is very complicated. On behalf of the authorities, I am happy with this enforcement,” Khlaing Huot said.

He said none of the villagers had land titles, and offered $1 million to anyone who produced a legitimate one.

Ouch Leng, a land programme officer for the rights group Adhoc who observed the demolition, said local authorities were at fault for allowing people to buy up disputed land.

“It is a mistake of the authorities,” he said. “The authorities did not prevent the construction.”

Residents say they bought the land from former Preah Vihear provincial governor Meas Savoeun, whose wife won ownership over 6,000 square metres Tuol Kork in a 2004 ruling by Un Bunna, a judge at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

In 2007, however, a ruling by the Supreme Court reversed the verdict.

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Hun Sen set to declare assets

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Friday, 01 April 2011 15:03Vong Sokheng

Prime Minister Hun Sen is to declare his assets today to the Kingdom’s Anti-Corruption Unit that, though not to be released publicly, is expected to serve as an example for other officials in ongoing efforts to tackle graft.

Sar Sambath, permanent member of the ACU, said yesterday that although the contents of the declaration would remain private, Hun Sen would publicly drop off his asset declaration documents today.

“By law, documents of the asset declaration by Prime Minister Hun Sen would be kept as confidential the same as other officials, but the process is open for the press to see.”

Yet critics have expressed concern over the effectiveness of the confidential nature of the declaration process, while spouses and family members of officials are not required to declare their assets.

“I think that corruption will remain widespread in the country if the asset declaration of an official remains confidential. Our people want to know about the assets of individual officials, so that people can make their own judgments about the government’s policy to fight corruption,” Yim Sovann, spokesman of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said yesterday.

ACU spokesman Keo Remy said yesterday that the ACU has appealed to lawmakers, NGO leaders, selected senior civil servants, court officials, and police and military officers to declare all assets in writing before April 7.

“It is the first time in the Kingdom’s history that we have officials’ asset declarations, and I think the arrival of [Hun Sen] ... is a model for other officials,” he said.

The ACU previously said that about 100,000 officials would be required to declare their assets, but that number has dropped to 25,000, according to the latest ACU announcements.

Om Yentieng issued a notification on March 24 concerning failure to comply with the declaration deadline, saying they would face prison terms of between a month and a year and fines of up to 2 million riels (about US$500).

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Duch: It wasn’t me

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Former S-21 prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, sits in the courtroom at the Khmer Rouge tribunal on the outskirts of Phnom Penh in July 2010.

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Thursday, 31 March 2011 15:03James O’Toole and Cheang Sokha

Kaing Guek Eav struck a defiant tone yesterday in his final appearance before the Khmer Rouge tribunal, denying responsibility for his leadership of S-21 prison and asking the court to release him “in order to seek justice and truth for the Cambodian people”.

Speaking at the end of three days of appeal hearings before the tribunal’s Supreme Court Chamber, the man better known as Duch offered only a token expression of apology over the course of a 25-minute address in which he asserted that he falls outside the court’s mandate to try “senior leaders” and those “most responsible” for crimes committed under Democratic Kampuchea.

The argument represents a dramatic break from the approach taken by Duch and his defence over six months of trial hearings in 2009, during which he accepted qualified responsibility and essentially pleaded guilty. All this changed when he challenged the court’s jurisdiction and asked for an acquittal during closing arguments in November of that year, a strategy the defence has carried forward in its appeal.

Donning reading glasses and reading from a legal pad on which he composed his remarks over the course of yesterday’s hearing, Duch told the court that he had been forced to adhere to the line of a “criminal party”.

“The senior leaders, the most responsible persons, were others, not me,” he said. “According to the notion of senior leaders and most responsible persons, we refer to those who had the authority to design the [party] line and have it implemented. It wasn’t me.”

The remarks echoed claims made repeatedly this week by defence lawyers Kar Savuth and Kang Ritheary, who said Duch was no different from dozens of other KR-era prison chiefs throughout the country, all of the rest of whom have escaped prosecution. Duch said S-21 was “like the other torture centres where torture was employed”, claiming he was not permitted to make decisions on the “smashing” of detainees.

“Whatever you were ordered to do, you had to do it, otherwise you would end up being smashed,” he said. “I survived the regime because I respectfully and strictly followed the orders.”

Duch’s address came at the end of a day devoted to appeals of decisions on reparations and civil party admissibility in the original judgment, handed down last July. In that judgment, Duch was found guilty of crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Prosecutors have accused Duch of lacking remorse for his crimes and have called in their own appeal for him to have his sentence increased to 45 years, commuted from a life sentence only because of his excessive pre-trial detention.

Co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley said yesterday that Duch’s cold address had “underscore[d] all of the arguments that we made about sentencing”. Prominent civil party Bou Meng, one of the few living survivors of S-21, said he too was unmoved by Duch’s plea for acquittal.

“Whether he received orders from his superiors or he did it by himself, he has to be punished,” Bou Meng said.

Civil party lawyers argued yesterday that the reparations awards in the July judgment, which called for statements of apology made by Duch at trial to be collected and published and for the names of admitted civil parties to be printed in the verdict, were insufficient.

“The victims feel that such apologies are not genuine, and that when the apologies or names are published on the website, it’s not acceptable for the victims or the civil parties, who by no means have access to such materials,” civil party lawyer Kim Mengkhy said. “It is meaningless.”

Civil party lawyers have proposed ideas including the construction of a memorial stupa at S-21 and the recommendation that the government name a national commemoration day for victims, though the Trial Chamber found last year that these proposals were outside the scope of reparation options available to the court. In the aftermath of the judgment last year, the tribunal adopted rule changes that will allow judges to grant more expansive reparation awards in future cases.

An additional point of contention yesterday was the Trial Chamber’s decision to declare inadmissible the claims of 24 civil parties among the 90 who had been involved in court proceedings throughout the case. Civil party lawyer Hong Kim Suon said the tribunal had “outright misled” these people by not informing them that their claims could be rejected until the day of the verdict.

Kang Ritheary argued, however, that civil parties needed to present evidence to substantiate their claims.

“You cannot just make a plain statement and then it becomes evidence,” he said.

Duch himself mentioned the victims only briefly yesterday, allowing that he did maintain responsibility for “suffering at S-21 and for psychological damage for the victims throughout the country”. In closing his remarks, however, he returned to the issue of jurisdiction and his own limited culpability.

“I would urge your honours to decide and consider, on the issue of personal jurisdiction, that I do not fall within the jurisdiction [of the tribunal]”, he said. “This is the principle you should abide by in order to seek justice and truth for the Cambodian people, as well as for the former Khmer Rouge soldiers and cadres, especially the middle level, who do not fall within the jurisdiction of this tribunal.”

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Resentment over NGO law spreads

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Thursday, 31 March 2011 15:03Thomas Miller and Vong Sokheng

Organisation representing hundreds of NGOs and associations yesterday came out strongly against the second draft of the government’s controversial NGO law, some threatening political fallout, while the government defended the law.

Three umbrella groups, which have represented hundreds of organisations in closed-door negotiations with the government in recent weeks, said they saw “no progress” in the second draft.

“The [majority] of the changes are minor and fail to address the fundamental concerns raised by [civil society organisations],” Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project, said in a statement released by the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia, NGO Forum and the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee.

“The most significant problem remains at the heart of the law: Registration is still mandatory,” the groups said.

Several networks representing dozens of community groups and associations also denounced the law yesterday, saying at a press conference in Phnom Penh that they had been deceived by the government.

“The latest draft is more restrictive for civil society organisations, which is contrary to the response that the Ministry of Interior gave to us by telephone, that they had accepted the majority of our proposed points,” the groups said in a statement.

“The latest draft law is a law to control civil society rather than to promote the rights of citizens in creating and forming organisations and associations.”

Several of the networks said there would be political fallout if the law was not changed significantly.

“We will not vote for the government if the ruling party does not respect our will. We have more than 1,000 local associations.... Therefore, the effective judgment over the Government’s policy is through the upcoming elections,” Vorn Pao, president of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association, said yesterday.

Um Mech, a representative of ethnic minority groups in Kampong Thom province, said lawmakers would be held accountable for their votes on the law.

“We are the voters. If the law is adopted without protecting our benefits and our rights, we will not vote for the government,” he said. “We voted for our representatives in the National Assembly because we need them to protect us, and now if they will approve the law without thinking about our interests ... This is the way of democracy.”

Um Mech said high rates of illiteracy among indigenous people would make the law’s registration and reporting requirements “a huge obstacle” to his organisation’s work. He also expressed concern about his ability to take on politically sensitive issues.

“Before this law, at least 30 people have been imprisoned for claiming their own land. If the law is adopted, there will be more people imprisoned,” he said.

The draft legislation has been roundly criticised for setting out vague and arbitrary government authority, mandatory registration and reporting requirements deemed burdensome for small organisations.

The second draft also contains no explicit right to appeal government decisions, either to the courts or ministries.

The newest draft created a registration exception for “mass organisations”, also translated as “community-based organisations”, but did not define the term.

Nouth Sa An, secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior, defended the law.

“The allegation that we have not changed the draft is unacceptable. We have adopted about 90 percent of the changes requested by civil society,” he said yesterday.

Nouth Sa An said he did not know when the law would be submitted to the Council of Ministers, though he reportedly told NGO representatives in a meeting on Tuesday the deadline was the end of the week.

“We are waiting to see an approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the requests to change the draft law,” he said

Ouch Borith, secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, could not be reached for comment yesterday, and spokesman Koy Kuong said he did not know about the matter.

In an analysis of the law released yesterday, local rights group Licadho said the new draft contained the same flaws as the first and would “further disempower Cambodian communities”.

“It must be remembered that the freedoms of association, expression and assembly in Cambodia are already heavily restricted, particularly at the community level,” the report said.

“Anyone who is perceived to be challenging local or government officials is open to persecution, including arrest, detention, threats and violence. The draft law must be assessed within this context,” Licadho said.

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Court concludes case over forged passport

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Thursday, 31 March 2011 15:03Buth Reaksmey Kongkea

Phnom Penh Municipal Court concluded its trial yesterday against two Cambodian police officers and a Bangladeshi national for producing a fake passport.

Presiding Judge Duch Kimsorn said that Seng Phirun, 48, an officer of the Phnom Penh military police, Ky Sam Ath, 43, deputy chief of the passport police office in the Ministry of Interior, and Sid Dik, 36, a Bangladeshi national, were charged for the production of an illegal passport for a second Bangladeshi man, Na Simorn, 35.

Duch Kimsorn said that Sid Dik was arrested on May 14 last year in the Stung Meanchey commune of Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district, after complaints were filed by Na Simorn.

Ky Sam Ath and Seng Phirun were arrested on June 17 based on the testimony of Sid Dik, Duch Kimsorn said.

Na Simorn said that he decided to stay in Cambodia in 2008, but his Bangladeshi passport was stolen, so he paid Ky Sam Ath US$2,500 through Sid Dik to make him a valid passport.

“I knew that my passport was fake when I applied for a visa to visit Thailand in early May 2010 from the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh. I then filed a complaint to the passport department at the Ministry of Interior,” he said in court yesterday.

Na Simorn asked the court for justice under Cambodian law and compensation of $5,000.

Duch Kimsorn said that a verdict in the case would be announced on May 8.

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Montagnard concerns: HRW

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Thursday, 31 March 2011 15:03Thomas Miller

State-sponsored harassment of Montagnards in Vietnam has increased in recent months, Human Rights Watch said in a report to be released today, raising questions about how Cambodian refugee policy might deal with a new wave of asylum-seekers from the Central Highlands.

“Vietnam’s state media has presented the latest round of arrests, beatings, and intimidation as a response to conflicts between rubber plantation guards and ethnic minority highlanders,” the report states.

Vietnamese authorities have claimed “success” at preventing hundreds of people from fleeing the Central Highlands illegally for Cambodian territory, HRW said. Vietnam has also received hundreds who were repatriated from the Kingdom.

“There is some question as to what’s going to happen if we have another wave of asylum seekers coming to Cambodia,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at HRW, said yesterday from Bangkok. “Will they be treated fairly?

“This is very, very political for the Vietnamese. They are construing in the Central Highlands that any organised religion outside the control of the government is a threat to national security.”

Last month, the government ordered the closure of a United Nations refugee centre that had housed members of the Vietnamese minority group temporarily before resettlement to a third country or voluntary repatriation since 2005.

Cambodian government policy is to deal with all asylum seekers under immigration laws and the sub-decree on refugee status, Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said yesterday.

“Those who come to Cambodia illegally, we treat the same as illegal immigration.”

HRW has said the sub-degree does not meet international standards and grants overly broad authority to the minister of interior to “unilaterally” determine refugee status. Three days after the procedures were adopted, in December 2009, the government forcibly deported 20 ethnic Uighur asylum seekers to China.

The government has said there is no persecution against Montagnards in Vietnam.

“Since Vietnam is now at peace and has neither internal conflict not persecution against Montagnards, there is no reason for more Montagnards to seek asylum in Cambodia,” Hun Sen wrote in a January letter to six United States lawmakers.

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Some Tack Fat workers take buyout

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Thursday, 31 March 2011 15:03Tep Nimol

Former employees of the Tack Fat garment factory split yesterday over a compensation offer from the bankrupt manufacturer after a fraction of the more than 1,000 laid-off workers accepted an offer one union representative said amounted to about US$200 each.

Ke Soksithiny, a member of the government lead committee overseeing compensation negotiations, said 100 workers had accepted a deal offering three out of the five points of compensation the company is required to pay as stipulated in Cambodia’s 1997 labour law.

“The central government does not side with the workers and mistreat the employers; their dispute is like the tongue and the teeth that we must coordinate,” he said.

Financial needs during Khmer New Year had influenced the workers’ decision to accept the compensation deal, he added.

However Yong Leab, president of the Tack Fat Free Trade Union, said only 20 workers who had been at the company for 10 to 15 years had accepted an offer of nearly $200.

“Most of [the workers] are broke and have just delivered a baby,” she said.

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Rice export target given price tag

Villagers harvest rice in Siem Reap province late last year. Cambodia hopes to meet an export goal of one million tonnes per year by 2015. Photo by: Will Baxter

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Thursday, 31 March 2011 15:01Chun Sophal

ACHIEVING Cambodia’s goal of exporting one million tonnes of rice per year by 2015 will require investments of US$350 million over the next four years, according to a Ministry of Economy and Finance official.

“Cambodia currently has the capacity to produce 200,000 tonnes of rice for export, because we lack capital and high-standard rice mills,” said Ministry Secretary of State Hang Chuon Naron

yesterday.

Speaking on the sidelines of a conference on “Environment, Agriculture and Development”, he said that it would take $150 million to build high quality rice mills, and another $200 million to buy unprocessed rice from farmers, to meet the 2015 goal.

The Government was working with commercial banks on easing financing restrictions, aiming to increase loans for rice traders and mill owners, Hang Chuon Naron said in his conference speech.

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Chan Sarun said increased focus on the agricultural sector meant it was expected to grow further in the years ahead.

Cambodia’s total rice harvest is expected to hit 8.25 million tonnes this year, with supply exceeding demand by 3.9 million tonnes, he said.

Last month, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation revised upwards projected 2010 rice production in Cambodia to 8 million tonnes, noting much of the surplus ends up as unofficial cross-border exports to neighbouring countries.

Cambodia Centre for Study and Development in Agriculture President Yang Saing Koma said that the availability of financing and high interest rates were the largest hurdle towards meeting the 2015 rice export target.

“This is a problem,” he said. “We need a lot of money.”

A majority of Cambodians depend on the sector for a living, making rice farming important for economic growth but also for employment in rural areas, he said, adding that the goal of one million tonnes’ exports by 2015 was achievable. Increased lending ought to come from several sources, including commercial banks, state-owned Rural Development Bank, the Government, and development partners, he said.

“The problem is money, as well as the interest rate. It’s still relatively high compared to Vietnam and other countries,” he said.

ACLEDA Bank President In Channy said commercial banks in Cambodia had increased their loans to the agricultural sector significantly over the past year.

“Commercial banks may cooperate with an increase in credit to the sector,” he said.

ACLEDA Bank accounted for some 58 percent of overall lending to the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector in 2009, the latest year for which National Bank of Cambodia statistics are available.

Last month, the World Bank and the Government launched a programme to improve access to loans by agri-business by guaranteeing 50 percent of loans to the sector by participating commercial banks.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JEREMY MULLINS

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