Timber Tycoon, Once Target of Crackdown, Made Hun Sen Adviser

[geovalin]

Lim Bunna, a controversial okhna who was once called out by the prime minister for smuggling wood to Vietnam, has been made an adviser to Hun Sen. In 2016, Hun Sen ordered a crackdown against Bunna and another timber tycoon, saying authorities should use firearms and helicopters to end the smuggling activity, government spokesperson Phay Siphan told the Phnom Penh Post at the time.

 

“These two people feel like they are untouchable,” Siphan further told the Cambodia Daily, adding that the Interior Ministry had found evidence implicating them.

However, the prime minister backtracked just days later, saying the tycoons’ alleged logging of Ratanakiri’s protected Virachey National Park was “legal.” Now, Bunna has been elevated to be an official adviser to Hun Sen, according to a ruling-party decision signed by the prime minister on August 18.

 

The decision was made by the CPP’s permanent committee and Bunna would advise Hun Sen in his role as the president of the party, the decision says. Environmentalist Heng Sros said on Thursday that he had investigated Bunna’s timber trafficking and alleged the tycoon’s logging activities spanned the provinces of Kampong Thom, Kratie, Preah Vihear, Pursat and Stung Treng, as well as Mondulkiri’s Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary.

 

 

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