The U.S. Treasury Department has placed sanctions on two prominent Cambodian businessmen accused of corruption and illegal logging.
The U.S. said that one of the men sanctioned, Try Pheap, “used his vast network inside Cambodia to build a large-scale illegal logging consortium that relies on the collusion of Cambodian officials.” It added that Pheap, who runs 11 Cambodia-registered entities, paid off National Park officials to keep his logging operations secret from the international community.
Kun Kim, the other Cambodian businessman sanctioned, is accused of corruption related the extraction of natural resources, among other charges. Both men have worked for the Cambodian government in the past.
The Cambodian government “expressed strong dismay” over the sanctions and defended Pheap and Kim, saying the U.S.’s claims were groundless and “an ambush,” the Associated Press reports.
Since the U.S. imposed tariffs on Chinese hardwood products last year, wood flooring industry experts have reported a shift in logging and manufacturing operations to Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia and Vietnam.
