Zoellick skims over corruption in Cambodia
22 August 2007
During his recent visit to Cambodia, new World Bank President, Robert Zoellick, mentioned corruption reform in the county only in passing. Global Witness called on Zoellick to do more to tackle corruption in Cambodia.
On August 3rd UK-based NGO Global Witness encouraged World Bank President Robert Zoellick to address corruption concerns in Cambodia during his visit to the country on August 4.
“We welcome Robert Zoellick’s decision to visit Cambodia on the first tour of his presidency and recommend he seizes the opportunity to tackle the dual challenges of poor governance and impunity facing the country,” said Global Witness Director Simon Taylor.
Last year the World Bank had to put a halt to three projects in Cambodia due to corruption findings, which cost the Cambodian government millions. Corruption reform was only mentioned in passing during Zoellick's visit. The Asia Times reported, "His talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had touched on the widespread illegal logging networks that have come to symbolize the web of corruption across the impoverished nation. Hun Sen had admitted that there was 'a need to stop the logging operations', Zoellick said at the press conference."
According to studies and information collected by both the World Bank and Global Witness, corruption is a serious issue in Cambodia. The World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators place Cambodia in the bottom 10th percentile for control of corruption. In addition, Global Witness published a document, Cambodia's Family Trees, which provides information linking the illegal logging industry in Cambodia to the Prime Minister, his relatives, senior officials, and their relatives and includes other serious criminal allegations of these government elite.
In response to Global Witness' request, the Cambodian Embassy in the UK responded with a letter: "The Press Release of Global Witness ... is indeed amusing and disturbing." Further in the letter, the Cambodian government fired back, "It would be disastrous for the credibility and the image of Global Witness Funders, if no concrete actions and measures were not seriously considered to provide a new guidance and leadership to Global Witness."
Acting on the Kleptocracy Initiative which aims to target high level corruption, the United States Senate attempted to pass a draft bill in July to impose travel bans on Cambodian officials named in the Global Witness report.
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