VN army concessions are ‘unconstitutional’

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy has levelled further criticism at the Vietnamese army’s alleged control of 40,000 hectares of economic land concessions (ELCs) in Ratanakkiri province, claiming that the grants are in violation of the Cambodian constitution. Transferred over 2011 and 2012 to Vietnamese companies Veasna Investment, Chea Chanrith, Rama Khmer and Dai Dong Duong, the four ELCs near the O’Yadav border checkpoint are reported to be linked through their chairmen to the Vietnamese Army’s Corps 15.

Writing from self-imposed exile in a Facebook post on Saturday, opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) president Sam Rainsy said the ELCs violate Article 53 of the constitution, which prohibits the establishment of any foreign military base on Cambodian territory. “Those 40,000 hectares of Cambodia’s territory now administered by the Vietnamese army have been turned into a military zone under the control of a foreign country” he wrote.

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