Global Witness: Om Yintieng involved in mining protected wildlife sanctuary

The chair of the government’s Human Rights Committee, Om Yen Tieng (pictured), and the prime minister’s first cousin, Dy Chouch, are both named as backers of the Float Asia Friendly Mation mine by sources close to the company’s operations

Excerpt from "Country for Sale"
Global Witness

Float Asia Friendly Mation

The Float Asia Friendly Mation Company is extracting marble from the protected areas of Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary and the Central Cardamoms Protected Forest (CCPF).

Company registration documents show the mine to be owned by a man named Ching Kimnguon. Those interviewed by Global Witness however have a different account. They identified two of Cambodia’s elite – Om Yen Tieng and Dy Chouch – as the mine’s backers. Om Yen Tieng is an advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen and chairman of the government’s Human Rights Committee. Dy Chouch is the prime minister’s first cousin.

Guards drawn from the RCAF ranks are using the threat of armed violence to maintain the company’s position in Phnom Aural and have, so far, fended off attempts by Ministry of Environment rangers to remove them.

“The uplands of Mount Aural sequester one of the most expansive and pristine forests of Indochina. They also sequester a natural ecosystem and ‘biodiversity hotspot’ that is still virtually unknown to science.” - Dr J. Andrew McDonald, Plant Resources Center, University of
Texas at Austin, 2004

“Cambodian sculptures draw the attention of tourists. Finely carved sculptures represent the artistic, cultures and spiritual artefacts of Cambodia.” - Quote taken from the Float Asia Friendly Mation Company Brochure.

The Float Asia Friendly Mation marble mining activities are located in Rokat and Santre Communes, Phnom Kravanh District, Pursat Province. According to documents obtained by Global Witness the company has three sites for marble extraction. Two are situated within Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary. The third is within the Central Cardamom Protected Forest. The company also has a marble processing business depot in Tasai village, Rokat Commune, Pursat Province and a marble depot in Phnom Kravanh town.

When Global Witness investigators visited the area in 2008, it was too dangerous to go to the quarry mining sites due to the poor quality of the road to the site and the risk of flash flooding during the rainy season. A company representative claimed Float Asia had brought in Chinese workers to construct a road to the mine site in 2006. The operation was run by an individual named Mr. Ta Tri, who held the nickname of Ta Venta – or ‘grandpa specs’. These workers had cleared the forest but failed to construct a decent road and it had quickly deteriorated. As a consequence of the lack of road infrastructure, even in the dry season, Float Asia is forced to use local labour and oxcarts rather than trucks. Investigators noted that the depot itself still had considerable stock, mining equipment and a sales staff. Customers were observed buying rock and loading it onto trucks.

Float Asia’s own brochure is very precise about the legal basis of its operations, stating that it was granted a licence by The MIME for an ‘open-pit mining and stone quarry No. 597’ in June 2006.

However, the MoE staff operating in the area disagreed with the legal basis of the company’s operations, claiming it was operating illegally under the 1996 law on Environmental Protection and Natural Resource Management.

Global Witness has obtained a copy of an MoE submission to the prosecutor of the court of Pursat Province concerning Float Asia’s activities which vividly outlines the tensions between these two arms of state. According to the court submission, on 2 March 2008 an MoE ranger mission confiscated one big truck, one tractor and two air compressors from the Float Asia operations. As the team was heading back from the site, the Float Asia company representative Mr. Eang Soknai instructed a group of military personnel to stop the ranger team and threatened to open fire on them. Despite the threats of violence against the MoE staff, sources claim that the Pursat Court did not bring a legal case against Float Asia or pursue the allegations outlined in the MoE submission.

From interviews with company employees, the MoE staff and local residents, it appears that the Float Asia company is controlled and backed by some powerful individuals.

When Global Witness investigators visited the company’s office in Phnom Penh in mid-2008, registration certificates on the wall identified an individual named Ching Kimnguon as the company’s owner. However, when asked, a staff member and another official familiar with the company’s operations, identified one of Hun Sen’s advisors and chairman of the government’s Human Rights Committee, Om Yen Tieng, as the mine’s major backer. Global Witness wrote to Om Yen Tieng in October 2008 to ask what the nature of his relationship was with the company. At the time of publishing he had not responded. Another source close to the company also claimed an individual named Dy Chouch is a controlling force behind the Float Asia mine.