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A development company owned by People’s Party senator Lao Meng Khin, accused of illegally evicting thousands of families in central Phnom Penh, recently sold a small portion of its project area for $14.9 million to a company with ties to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s sister.
Human rights groups say the sale violates the terms of a 99-year lease signed between Mr. Monchin’s Shukaku Inc. and the government in 2007. Families in the area are considering filing a complaint with the anti-corruption department.
Shukaku leased 133 hectares of prime land in Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood for $79 million, then evicted about 3,000 families in violation of the country’s Land Law. Backed by a Chinese investor, the company began construction on an ambitious real estate project in mid-2011, but work soon ceased and the area has been vacant since then.
In an announcement on the Singapore Stock Exchange on Friday, Singapore-based HLH Group said its associate company D’Lotus Development Limited will purchase 1.35 hectares of land from Shukaku, on which it plans to build an office tower, luxury apartments and retail space.
HLH’s Singapore headquarters referred all questions about the deal to HLH Agriculture’s office in Phnom Penh, but officials there responded to repeated requests for comment. HLH Agriculture is wholly owned by HLH Agri International Pte. Ltd., a unit of HLH Group, according to registration records with Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce.
HLH Agriculture owns a plantation in Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary in Kampong Speu province. In February 2010, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s sister, Hun Seng Ny, visited the area to allay local concerns that the plantation would encroach on their farms, and officials referred to HLH as “her company,” according to villagers and activists.
Later that month, a female employee at HLH Agriculture’s Phnom Penh office said Ms Seng Ny was a director of the company.
In May 2012, Ms. Seng Ny again visited the company’s plantation in Kampong Speu province to negotiate with locals to resolve a land dispute, according to human rights group Licadho.
Three Shukaku executives declined to comment on Tuesday on its sale to HLH.
It is not clear whether the 1.35 hectares of land sold by Shukaku is within the 12.44 hectares area carved out from the land leased to the company so that hundreds of families can keep their homes.
Although the land that was set aside was reserved for the families that lived on it, Mr. Menchin still acquired several land titles there.
Licadho’s technical director Am Sam Ath said the sale proved Shukaku had no intention of developing the project land itself.
“It’s just an excuse that the land is going to be used for development … they just sell it off,” he said. “The culture of buying, selling and exchanging continues and it’s just another way … of taking people’s land.”
Tep Vanny, a Boeng Kak resident who represents some of the local families still fighting for land ownership, said the families may soon file a complaint with the ACU against Mr. Mun Khin over the sale of the land.
Phnom Penh City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said he was “surprised” by news of the sale and could not comment on its legality.
“I can’t comment on that… I need to see the documents,” he said.
(Additional reporting by Zsombor Peter)
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