The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday sentenced a senior Kampong Chhnang police officer to four years in prison for illegally clearing flooded forests around the Tonle Sap lake between 2011 and 2021.
The Anti-Corruption Unit closed its investigation into a Kampong Chhnang ex-governor whose vast tracts of protected flooded-forest land were confiscated amid a crackdown on illegal encroachment.
Battambang police officials summoned a Thma Kuol resident because he criticized the demolition of an elevated road on Facebook. He was “educated” and made to apologize for the comment.
On paper, the protected biosphere reserve around Tonle Sap lake is a flooded forest. But across vast tracts in Kampong Chhnang, there are only rice fields or uncultivated wetlands, bare of any substantial trees. Decades of encroachment have only accelerated in recent years.
Alleging renewed large-scale illegal logging, environmentalists around the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary said authorities should take action to stop deforestation before it was too late, just as officials had reclaimed 60,000 hectares of protected flooded forests around the Tonle Sap lake.
As two senior Kampong Chhnang police officers were arrested over the weekend for grabbing flooded forest land, rights NGOs said any officials caught clearing flooded forests around the Tonle Sap lake should face punishment for their crimes.
Following Prime Minister Hun Sen’s command two weeks ago to stop the Tonle Sap’s destruction, provincial governors say they have retaken thousands of hectares of protected flooded forests but are still working on investigating perpetrators.
Military police and provincial officials again rushed around the Tonle Sap lake on Wednesday, destroying dozens of cottages, removing thousands of land-marker poles, accepting 675 hectares from a police deputy, and arresting several residents.
A Banteay Meanchey fishing community is preparing a complaint against local officials they accuse of selling off state-owned flooded forests.
About 100 villagers in Banteay Meanchey province protested at a flooded forest where they allege 120 hectares of public land was sold by local officials to private interests.
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