Cambodia tells donors to quit lecturing on fiscal transparency

Earth Times

Phnom Penh (DPA)- Prime Minister Hun Sen (pictured) told a conference on good mining practices Wednesday that foreign organisations must stop giving advice on how to manage expected revenues.

"This is not the hour to talk about spending the money," Hun Sen told several hundred business executives, diplomats and civil society members in a speech opening the two-day meeting.

"And don't talk too much looking on Cambodia as a child; the (government) is not a child," he said. "So do not advise too much."

In recent years, foreign companies have signed dozens of exploration deals in industries from oil and gas to bauxite and gold.

Critics charge that the deals are opaque, with revenues failing to reach the national budget.

Hun Sen also lashed out at Britain-based Global Witness, which has published highly critical reports on the government's handling of state assets, including forestry and mining.

"Global Witness is a group of thieves, they cooperate with foreign agencies," he charged. "We have no money (from extractive industries) but they teach us about how to spend the money, and even blame us for stealing it."

Global Witness spokesman George Boden last month urged donors to pressure Phnom Penh to account for millions of dollars in contractbonuses from French oil firm Total SA and Australian mining company BHP Billiton Ltd.

Boden said there was no sign that the bulk of the money had reached the budget.

"Donors must use the upcoming round of donor-government meetings to ask some tough questions and get some answers," Boden said.

The government has said the money from Total and BHP Billiton went into a social fund, although details of that fund remain unclear.

BHP Billiton is currently under investigation by US and Britishregulatory authorities for possible violations of anti-graft legislation reportedly committed in Cambodia.

Hun Sen's speech came ahead of next week's donor conference at which pledges are made. In 2009, Cambodia received about 950 million dollars from foreign governments, roughly half its annual budget.

Cambodia is ranked as one of the world's most corrupt countries. It was listed last year in 158th place by graft watchdog Transparency International, with 1st place going to the least-corrupt country. Only 19 nations were ranked worse.