Pheap denies link to timber at Mondulkiri ELC

[geovalin]

Phak Seangly and Mech Dara

As a national crackdown on illegal logging rumbles on, Try Pheap, Cambodia’s most prominent timber tycoon, issued a public denial of reports that he was linked to an economic land concession (ELC) where authorities found hundreds of cubic metres of potentially illegal timber.

The denial comes amidst the crackdown’s first reported arrests and reports that high-value timber is being buried in pits to circumvent inspection. On Friday, Try Pheap Group issued a press release quashing local media reports that it was connected to hundreds of cubic metres of timber that were inspected that day at Unigreen Resource Co Ltd, a Chinese-owned ELC in Mondulkiri’s Koh Nhek district.

source: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pheap-denies-link-timber-mondulkiri-elc