Svay Rieng Officials Deny Vietnam Land Scheme

Svay Rieng provincial authorities shot back against charges that local officials were conspiring with Vietnamese nationals to allow them to rent land in Cambodia along the border, claiming that after their investigation they found Cambodian farmers were instead hiring Vietnamese farmers to work on their land. But opposition party members responded by conducting their own investigation, naming specific officials that local residents say have been in charge of securing land for Vietnamese people.
 

Last week, five members of the opposition sent a letter to National Assembly President Heng Samrin and Interior Minister Sar Kheng, telling them local residents said officials in two communes within Chantrea district and one in Bavet City had worked with Vietnamese nationals to provide them with land titles, something expressly prohibited in an edict by the prime minister late last year. Despite claims by the government that the practice had ended, commune residents said Vietnamese nationals were openly using Cambodian names on land titles and agreements and working with local government officials to flout Prime Minister Hun Sen’s decree.
 

But yesterday, Svay Rieng provincial administration director and spokesman Ros Pharith said members of the Provincial Expert Commission went to the communes to investigate the issue. They said the farming land in Bavet City’s Prasat commune and Chantrea district’s Tuol Sdey and Chantrea communes was not being rented to any Vietnamese nationals. Cambodian farmers were hiring Vietnamese people to help them farm, he told Khmer Times.

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