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Hon. Kevin Andrews MP Chair of the Human Rights Sub Committee Joint Hon. Kevin Andrews MP Chair of the Human Rights Sub Committee Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade PO Box 6021 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 April 22, 2020 Dear Mr Andrews, Inquiry into whether Australia should enact legislation comparable to the United States Magnitsky Act 2012 I am submitting this document in my capacity as a private individual. As a former long-standing Member of Parliament for the state of Victoria representing many Cambodian-Australian constituents, and as current president of the Cambodian Australian Federation, I have spent many years speaking publicly about human rights abuses perpetrated by the Cambodian government and advocating for the respect of human rights in Cambodia. For doing this, I have been personally threatened by the ruling party1 and banned from returning to the country where I was born.2 Australia is one of Cambodia’s largest donors and has been closely involved with development and the promotion of human rights in the country. The Australian government provided an estimated $79.7 million in total Official Development Assistance to Cambodia in 2018-2019, which included an estimated $56.1 million in bilateral funding.3 Since the Paris Peace Accords of the early 1990s, Australia has played a critical role in fostering democracy and furthering the cause for human rights in Cambodia. Despite this, Cambodia’s ruling party continues to violently suppress all opposition to its decades-long rule. Over the past few years, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government has tightened its grip on the nation, disbanding the legitimate opposition party and sweeping away independent media and civil society groups that continued to hold the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to account for its actions. Members of Cambodia’s ruling elite have used and abused their power and privilege to enrich themselves at the expense of their country’s development. Over the years, a number of these seemingly untouchable individuals have begun to use Australia as a haven to launder their ill-gotten wealth and extend their influence and impunity into our community. Magnitsky-style sanctions will keep human rights abusers and corrupt officials out of Australia and its financial system. Sanctioned Cambodians will have their assets frozen and be banned from entering the country, ensuring national security at no cost to the taxpayer. These sanctions would show Australian solidarity with those fighting for human rights and democracy around the world. The United States, Canada and the United Kingdom have already adopted similar legislation. The European Union has also begun to develop these kinds of laws. A lack of similar sanction mechanisms in Australia reduces the impact of a collective global effort. Unless the government stands with its 1 https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/oct/13/victorian-mp-hong-lim-warned-he-will-be-beaten-if- he-returns-to-cambodia 2 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-18/victorian-mp-calls-for-countries-to-up-pressure-on- cambodia/7759698 3 https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/cambodia/development-assistance/Pages/development-assistance-in-cambodia democratic allies and adopts this policy, Australia risks becoming a safe haven for Cambodian human rights abusers, corrupt officials, their family members and associates. The Long Arm of Cambodia’s Ruling Party In July 2018, Al Jazeera published an investigation highlighting corruption and human rights abuses in Cambodia, linking leading Cambodians with deep ties to Australia to these crimes.4 The documentary focused on Kong Vibol, the director-general of Cambodia’s General Department of Taxation and a senior member of the ruling CPP. This investigation raised serious allegations of money laundering and defrauding the Australian government, including providing fraudulent information regarding his residency in Australia. The allegations also raised questions over how he could afford millions of dollars’ worth of Australian properties on an official government salary of around $1,300 per month.5 The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has yet to pursue an investigation into Kong Vibol. Without more strategic legislation, Australia will encounter unnecessary difficulties in preventing Cambodian human rights abusers from sheltering their ill-gotten gains in Australia’s financial system. In February 2019, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)6, an inter-governmental organisation that leads the global fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, included Cambodia on a “grey list” over concerns it is vulnerable to the concealment of illegally acquired money.7 The FATF found that Cambodia had never prosecuted a money-laundering case due to high levels of corruption in the judicial system. Nor did the Cambodian Financial Intelligence unit properly supervise the country’s booming casino and real estate sectors. These sectors have long been identified by organisations such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as very likely exposed to money laundering by organised crime groups8. Without Magnitsky-style legislation, Australia lacks the legal tools that other countries have successfully used to prevent such money laundering and financial infiltration. Indeed, senior members of the Cambodian regime have already amassed multi-million dollar properties and business portfolios in cities throughout Australia. Credible public reports910 have shown Cambodian officials and their family members have, or had, lucrative assets in Australia despite paltry government salaries. These include, but is not limited to: - Dy Vichea, Lieutenant General, director of the Central Security Department, and son-in-law of the Prime Minister11 4https://www.aljazeera.com/blogs/asia/2018/07/threats-corruption-scenes-cambodia-election-crackdown- 180713045407248.html 5 https://www.aljazeera.com/blogs/asia/2018/07/threats-corruption-scenes-cambodia-election-crackdown- 180713045407248.html, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/cambodian-tax-boss-faces-jail-over-aussie-residency- claims 6 http://www.fatf-gafi.org/countries/#Cambodia 7 https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-cambodia-moneylaundering/cambodia-placed-on-global-money-laundering- watchlist-idUKKCN1QB0NI 8https://www.unodc.org/documents/southeastasiaandpacific/Publications/2019/SEA TOCTA 2019 web.pdf 9 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-30/champagne-with-dictators/10053664 10 https://www.aljazeera.com/blogs/asia/2018/07/threats-corruption-scenes-cambodia-election-crackdown- 180713045407248.html 11 https://www.abc net.au/news/2018-10-25/cambodian-pm-henchmen-splash-millions-on-melbourne- property/10355246 - Hun To, nephew of the Prime Minister12 - Thai Jackie Thi Tien, wife of Hun To - Kong Vibol, director-general of the General Department of Taxation13 Through Magnitsky-style legislation, the Australian government can demonstrate that it will not tolerate any further illicit transfers of illegally acquired money from Cambodian officials, their family members or associates. Passports for the Highest Bidder Considering the known dubious investments in Australian property and businesses by Cambodia’s wealthy and political elite, the Department of Home Affairs should internally review procedural safeguards of its various investment-for-visa schemes14. Some of these schemes allow an individual and their family to remain in Australia permanently and ultimately apply for citizenship. As in Australia, reports have shown that Cambodia’s ruling elite have amassed millions of dollars in assets abroad in countries throughout Europe15. These individuals have used their ill-gotten wealth to buy foreign citizenship in countries like Cyprus, thereby gaining legal access to the entire European Union (EU). After fierce backlash against this citizenship for investment scheme, the Cypriot Interior Minister announced in November 2019 that the government had started the process of stripping at least eight Cambodian beneficiaries of the citizenship they had received under the country’s investment program16. These individuals include: - Hun Kimleng, the Prime Minister’s niece. - Neth Savoeun, Hun Kimleng’s husband and Cambodia’s national police chief. - Vicchuna Neth, daughter of Hun Kimleng and Neth Savoeun - Choeung Sopheap, businesswoman and close friend of the Prime Minister’s wife. - Lau Ming Kan, Choeung Sopheap’s husband and CPP senator. - Aun Pornmoniroth, the Prime Minister’s long-time financial adviser and finance minister. - Im Paulika, Aun Pornmoniroth’s wife. - Hun Chantha, the Prime Minister’s niece. Legitimate investments into Australia’s economy should be encouraged. But considering the country’s proximity and relationship with Cambodia, the Australian government should be wary of similar Cambodian investments from Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs)17 for visas and citizenship. Magnitsky-style legislation could help avoid an embarrassment like Cyprus and provide the government with an effective tool to freeze the assets of human rights abusers or their family members who flout the laws of Cambodia yet seek safe haven in Australia. 12 https://www.smh.com.au/national/inquiry-links-cambodian-leaders-nephew-to-drug-trafficking-money- laundering-20120325-1vsn8.html 13 https://www.voanews.com/east-asia/cambodian-tax-chief-lied-australian-corporate-regulator 14 https://immi homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing 15 https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/cambodia-hunsen-wealth/ 16 https://uk reuters.com/article/uk-cyprus-citizenship-cabinet/cyprus-plans-to-strip-citizenships-after-uproar-
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