SSEZ to be investigated again

The Ministry of Commerce said it has found no sign of duty evasion among Chinese companies operating out of Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SSEZ), but said it will conduct one more investigation to satisfy US demands.

The US embassy in Phnom Penh recently called on the Cambodian government to look closely at governance and compliance issues at the majority Chinese-owned SSEZ over claims that some Chinese companies use the zone to transship goods to the US and avoid tariffs.

The ministry has already concluded an investigation which has shown that, contrary to US allegations, no Chinese company is using the zone to circumvent US tariffs, said ministry spokesman Seang Thay. He added that the ministry will conduct one more investigation to look further into the matter.

“An investigation conducted on June 22, found no sign of Chinese companies using Cambodia as a transshipment base to avoid paying tariffs on exports to the US,” Mr Thay said.

“After learning about the issue from social media channels, we launched an investigation. We found nothing,” he said, adding that, “We will conduct another investigation and cooperate closely with relevant parties on the case.”

The first investigation’s results show that none of the 29 enterprises present at SSEZ that export to the US have recently been investigated or punished by US customs authorities, SSEZ said in a statement released on June 20.

US Embassy spokeswoman Emily Zeeberg on Friday told Khmer Times in an email that, since 2017, there have been two instances where companies operating out of SSEZ attempted to evade duties on products being exported to the United States.

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