Article
ANZ ethics under scrutiny over Cambodian sugar plantation loan
...ANZ is financing a Cambodian sugar plantation that has involved child labour, military-backed land grabs, forced evictions and food shortages. ANZ's support of the Phnom Penh Sugar Company's plantation is disclosed in confidential audits that reveal the project is beset by a series of social and environmental problems. The revelation raises serious questions over the bank's due diligence process and its compliance with a global ethical banking code it is a signatory to, as well as its own policies. Senior ANZ executives…met representatives of the more than 1000 families forcibly removed from their homes….An ANZ spokesman said...the bank was monitoring the situation in Cambodia and had...requested PP Sugar to engage with affected communities in order to resolve problems…[refers to ANZ Royal, Intl. Environmental Management]