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by LACH CHANTHA, Reuters

Sam Rainsy told reporters while on a visit to the desolate dump site on the outskirts of the port town of Sihanoukville that the Taiwanese firm which sent the waste to Cambodia late last year, Formosa Plastics Corp, must be responsible for any long-term impact.

He said he believed those responsible for allowing the waste to be imported from Taiwan were of ministerial rank.

``Who got the money?'' he asked, referring to newspaper reports that several million dollars were paid to dump the waste in Cambodia. ``We have to identify the responsible people and they must resign.''

``Corruption will kill many people for years to come if we don't address this issue,'' Sam Rainsy said, holding a clump of waste up for the news cameras. ``We must clear all this and send it back to Taiwan,'' he said, hurling the piece of waste away.

About 30 low-level customs, port and other officials have been suspended over the scandal but senior government officals said they were unaware of the import of the material and did not authorise it.

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

Four other people died in 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.

An environmental group said last week 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.

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.

The site is not sealed off and impoverished villagers were on Monday driving horse-drawn carts and collecting wood in the area.

Formosa Plastics, which originally denied the material was toxic but later said some of it was slightly tainted with mercury, has promised to remove it from Cambodia.

Sam Rainsy said the Taiwanese firm had to be held responsible for any long-term fall-out and Cambodia had to adopt legislation outlawing toxic-waste dumping.

``We have to hold Formosa Plastics responsible and liable for the long-term consequences, repercussions, of this.''