Investigative reporter
Leading questions: John Howard watches Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen sign the visitors' book at Parliament House in 2006. Photo: AAP
A BHP Billiton mining deal being investigated for alleged
corruption was personally overseen by Cambodian strongman Hun Sen,
diplomatic cables reveal.
The miner's aborted attempt to establish a bauxite mine in
Cambodia, and its hospitality program for Chinese officials at the 2008
Beijing Olympics, are at the centre of a foreign bribery investigation
by the Australian Federal Police and the US Justice Department.
Diplomatic cables, several marked ''sensitive'' and
''protected'', show for the first time Prime Minister Hun Sen's close
involvement in 2006 negotiations with BHP executives that led to him
announcing to a private audience he would give ''BHP 1 million hectares
of land'' weeks before an agreement was signed and ''a possible tax
holiday''.
They also reveal how BHP stopped all mineral exploration in
Cambodia just months after a British non-governmental organisation
published a 2009 report highlighting the company's payment of $US3.5
million to Cambodian government departments and concerns it could not be
accounted for.
The payments were described by one Cambodian politician in the Global
Witness report as ''tea money'', a phrase sometimes used in Asia to
describe bribes. There is no evidence suggesting any of the money went
to Mr Hun Sen or his associates, and he has dismissed reports
suggesting BHP was involved in bribery in Cambodia.
The cables, released under freedom of information by the
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, show BHP in 2006 took what
Australian officials regarded as an unusual step of asking them to
approach Mr Hun Sen for a meeting to ''go to the next level and close
the deal''. The cables have been heavily redacted to protect Australia's
international relations and BHP's commercial interests.
Although Australian officials rejected the BHP request to
''preserve our political capital'', embassy staff in Phnom Penh
contacted Mr Hun Sen's office to get a contact name and number for BHP.
In September 2006, Mr Hun Sen and BHP executives signed an
agreement granting the firm and joint venture partner Mitsubishi rights
to explore a huge area of land for bauxite deposits. The deal was
formally witnessed in Canberra a month later by then prime minister
John Howard and Mr Hun Sen.
The cables make clear that although BHP's exploration was
progressing slowly during 2007 and 2008, its Cambodia-based executives
were optimistic about the project's ultimate success.
However, the diplomatic cables show a change in BHP's stance
on its Cambodia operations in early 2009, shortly after the release of
the Global Witness report and its reference to the $US3.5 million
payments. Two months later, in April 2009, Australian diplomats sent a
''confidential'' cable to Canberra raising doubts about BHP's long-term
commitment to Cambodia, blaming the global financial crisis and the
country's ''own poor financial management''.
The cable stated any withdrawal would ''not only breach
BHP's MOU (memorandum of understanding) with the Cambodian government
(signed in the presence of Prime Ministers Hun Sen and Howard in
Canberra in 2006)'', but also ''diminish Australia's influence in this
major sector''. Australian diplomats in Phnom Penh also sent a cable to
Canberra in response to the Global Witness claims stating ''the
specific references to Australian companies are very concerning''.
Despite Australian officials becoming concerned in early 2009
BHP might pull out of Cambodia, one of the company's Phnom Penh-based
executives - quoted in an April 2009 diplomatic cable - was optimistic
about the bauxite operation proving ''commercially exploitable'' because
the ore was at shallow depths in accessible sites.
But just two months later, in June 2009, BHP advised the
embassy in Phnom Penh it would cease exploration in Cambodia on the
basis the bauxite deposit would not be competitive to mine given
''current global conditions''.
A cable sent to Canberra, marked ''sensitive and
confidential'', asked for the news of BHP's withdrawal to be ''closely
held'' until the company formally advised the Cambodian government.
The Cambodian government was not told of BHP's decision until
almost two months later, when BHP executives negotiated a settlement
with Mr Hun Sen's deputy, Sok An. Other cables show BHP arranged for Mr
Hun Sen to be chairman of a sub-committee examining legal issues of its
bauxite proposal.
Former Reagan administration lawyer Bretton Sciaroni has been
Mr Hun Sen's long-time legal adviser in Cambodia. In 2011, US online
site Salon.com reported Mr Sciaroni also advised BHP on its dealings in
Cambodia. BHP declined to discuss whether it hired Mr Sciaroni and the
lawyer could not be reached for comment.
On Monday, BHP said ongoing investigations meant it was
unable to answer specific questions but confirmed it handed licences
for the bauxite project back to the Cambodian government in 2009.
2 comments:
Born as a thief,dies as a thief....Hun sen carries all karma to Hell with him as thief a crooked thug a ruthless killer of Khmer innocent people.Hun was born to do evil thing against his own country and his people.
Born as a dictator, die as a dictator. Hun Sen has nowhere to hide when the time comes for his victims to turn against him.
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