Women Enjoy Equal Opportunity In Cambodia's Whiskey Business

A sign advertising a Hennessy liquor product rises high above Monivong Boulevard in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved

It's known around Cambodia that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen controls the elite Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) Brigade 70 and an additional reserve force of 4,000, known as the "Bodyguard Unit". These forces that amount to a personal militia have to eat just like the rest of us so where does the money to support them come from? Well folks, if you believe a former Brigade 70 officer cited in a 2007 report prepared by Global Witness, Brigade 70 is involved in protecting illegal activities and has committed serious crimes such as killing, smuggling, illegally arresting people and violating people’s personal property.

While women the world over struggle with issues related to gender equality, it seems as if some of Cambodia's women have no such concerns.

Let's talk about smuggling for a moment. Attwood Import Export Co. Ltd is the official distributor in Cambodia for Hennessy cognac and well-known brands of whisky and beer. According to Global Witness, Attwood’s Managing Director Lim Chhiv Ho is described by a well-connected source in Cambodia’s commercial sector "as one of a quartet of politically powerful women who do business deals together."

The others are said to be Yeay Phu of Pheapimex; wife of National Customs and Excise Department Director Pen Simon; and Tep Bopha Prasidh. She is married to Cham Prasidh, the Minister of Commerce, and is Director of Administration at the ministry. Tep Bopha Prasidh reportedly owns 10% of Attwood – a stake worth $1 million USD. Keeping it all in the family, Lim Chhiv Ho’s daughter is married to Yeay Phu's son.

Attwood has received concessions from the government to develop three Special Economic Zones (SEZs) near Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh and Bavet on the Vietnamese border. These deals give the company generous tax holidays and duty exemptions.

Obviously Attwood has to get their spirits from somewhere and that's where Brigade 70, the nationwide timber trafficking service comes in. Brigade 70’s clients are a ‘who’s who’ of major timber barons in Cambodia, including the infamous Pheapimex company run by Hun Sen crony Yeay Phu.

Since the mid 1990s, when he purchased the rank of major in Brigade 70 for US $5,000, Brigade 70 Brigadier General Hak Mao has kept busy most days transporting millions of dollars-worth of logs and timber products sourced from areas where there are no legal harvesting operations. Nevertheless, that's not going to stop him from helping the ladies serve up a drink now and then.

According to members of his staff, in March 2005 Hak Mao received $100,000 USD for transporting 60,000 bottles of Hennessy cognac from Oknha Mong Port to the InterContinental Hotel in Phnom Penh. The InterContinental Hotel building belongs to Hun To, the 52 year old nephew of Prime Minister Hun Sen. Hun To, according to well-placed sources who spoke to Global Witness, "is a major drugs trafficker."

Now admittedly one-hundred grand is chump change to a guy who reportedly takes in between $2 million and $2.75 million USD annually by smuggling ill begotten logs (among other items) even though he has been estimated to spend between $388,000-$518,400 USD per year to support Brigade 70 and the Bodyguard Unit, Hun Sen’s two most important military units. Still, it's nice to know Hak Mao supports this affirmative action program.

Global Witness does not know which type of Hennessy cognac Hak Mao was asked to deliver to the hotel but Brigade 70 trades on a reputation for speediness and efficiency. Hak Mao’s drivers have orders to turn off their phones before starting each journey in order to avoid distraction, and instructions not to stop under any circumstances, even if they hit another vehicle or people along the road.

At InterContinental prices, the retail value of 60,000 bottles of Hennessy Paradis, "efficiently delivered", would be close to US$5.9 million (about $98 USD per bottle). Attwood, runs a large shop retailing duty free liquor in a building adjacent to the InterContinental.

According to police interviewed by Global Witness in two districts on the outskirts of Phnom Penh through which Brigade 70 convoys regularly pass, Hak Mao’s trucks have hit motorists or pedestrians on several occasions. The policemen claim that Brigade 70 compensates injured victims with payments of US$50-US$150 and pays the families of those that die between US$100 and US$300.

Hak Mao doesn't stop at delivering logs and alcohol via large trucks however. According to soldiers and local Phnom Penh residents interviewed by Global Witness, Brigade 70 distributes items such as beer, spirits, cigarettes, perfume, electronic goods, construction materials, clothes, sugar, pharmaceuticals, and products destined for supermarkets including ice cream within Phnom Penh using a fleet of small ice cream and soft drinks trucks.

So how much is a Cambodian's life worth when one gets steamrolled by a Brigade 70 semi? About as much as a bottle of cognac the ladies are serving up as part Hun Sen's gender equality program. Another one-hundred dollar bottle please!

Note: In January 2007 Global Witness wrote to both Attwood and Hennessy companies to ask if they were aware of the evidence of cognac smuggling, but has not received a response from either firm. There is no suggestion by Global Witness that Hennessy is involved in the smuggling of its products, or that the InterContinental Hotels Group is implicated in any way.

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