ANZ still owes villagers over sugar loan: Oxfam

Australian banking giant ANZ has come under fire for its response to a scandal over its financing of a sugar plantation previously linked to forced evictions and child labour in Kampong Speu province. Titled Still Banking on Land Grabs, Oxfam’s Australia branch released a report yesterday slamming four large Australian banks for their ties to land grabs in developing countries.

The report made a prominent example out of ANZ’s partial financing of Phnom Penh Sugar, which had been denounced for a litany of human rights abuses in years past. While ANZ’s involvement in PPS through its Cambodia affiliate ANZ Royal has been public since early 2014, Oxfam criticised ANZ for washing its hands of the scandal after PPS “suddenly” paid back its loan in July of that year.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/anz-still-owes-villagers-over-sugar-loan-oxfam