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CAMBODIAN AUTHORITIES SEEK NINE OVER TOXIC WASTE

Reuters

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, 29 January 1999 --- Prosecutors in the southern Cambodian port of Sihanoukville said on Friday they will summon nine officials for questioning in connection with the dumping of nearly 3,000 tonnes of toxic waste from Taiwan.

''We will issue a summons to invite the nine people to court for questioning over the case,'' Sihanoukville court prosecutor Mom Muth told Reuters by telephone from the south-coast town.

''We want them to answer questions related to the damaging of the environment, causing a health hazard and corruption,'' he said. ''We hope to bring them to court next week.''

Mom Muth declined to identify the nine, saying they might try to evade justice. He said five of them were customs department officials, three were from the interior ministry's economic police department and one was a commerce ministry official.

The discovery of the mercury-tainted rubble near the port in December sparked riots in which protesters sacked offices of local officials they blamed for allowing its import. One person was killed.

Four other people died in traffic accidents during a panicked exodus of thousands fearing contamination.

Tests have shown much of the waste contained very high levels of mercury but environmental groups say it has not been tested for a range of other hazardous substances, including dioxins.

The waste was exported from Taiwan by Taiwanese petrochemical giant Formosa Plastics. The company originally denied the material was toxic but later said some of it was slightly tainted with mercury.

It has promised to remove it from Cambodia. Most of the waste has been shovelled into hundreds of oil drums and cargo containers which remain at the site but piles of powdery, concrete-like matter remains strewn across the ground.

An environmental group said this month it believed two people -- a port worker and a villager from the area where the waste was dumped -- died because of exposure to the material. The cause of death of the two has not been confirmed.

The manager of the local company which imported the waste has been in detention in Sihanoukville since December 21 on various charges related to damaging the environment, causing a health hazard and falsifying shipping documents, Mom Muth said.

About 30 other local officials, including customs, port and commerce officials have been suspended from work while the case is investigated.
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