Dredging figures do not add up
Transparency and environmental groups are calling on the Anti-Corruption Unit to investigate potential smuggling in the sand-dredging industry after a gaping $750 million discrepancy was discovered between Cambodia’s documented sand exports and Singapore’s imports. On the UN Commodity Trade Statistics Database, Cambodia reported exporting $5.5 million worth of sand, about 2.8 million tonnes, to Singapore between 2007 and 2015. However, the database shows for that same period, Singapore imported $752 million in sand from the Kingdom, amounting to 72.7 million tonnes. This shortfall, totalling hundreds of millions of dollars and first reported by Radio Free Asia, most likely points to corruption, observers said. Mother Nature co-founder Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson said sand was illegally smuggled out of Cambodia routinely and would suddenly appear on Singapore’s shores, where stricter anti-corruption laws applied.
