01 November 2018

The victims of … Phnom Penh Sugar Company development project in Kampong Speu province’s Oral district said they are “happy” to hear that ANZ Bank had declared … that it would consider compensating those affected by the project.

ANZ executive director Shayne Elliot said … that the bank had provided financing to build a refinery, not to seize plantation land.

“The bank will consider compensation for the affected. The profit on something like that would have been quite [minimal], but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do the right thing,” Elliott said.

A report by rights groups claimed Phnom Penh Sugar received a $40 million loan from ANZ joint venture the ANZ Royal Bank in 2011…

A representative of the victims, Khon Khorn, 60, from Oral district’s Trapaing Chor commune, told … that though the bank has not confirmed the date it will pay the compensation, the gesture shows that ANZ Bank is responsible and willing to solve the matter for her community…

Equitable Cambodia executive director Eang Vuthy appealed to ANZ Bank to create a “clear plan” to appease the community, …

The Australian National Contact Point …, a Treasury body that receives complaints against companies operating overseas, issued a statement … critical of ANZ for violating its own policies and international human rights standards when it provided the loan…

“There arguably should have been substantial questions and concerns in the minds of the ANZ credit decision makers,” it said…