Chevron silent on bribery allegations

US energy giant Chevron is under fire for failing to disclose the amount of money it paid to secure rights to drill for offshore oil in corruption-ridden Cambodia.

”It is yet to respond to our detailed questions in a letter written to the company in October 2008,” said Gavin Hayman, campaigns director for Global Witness (GW), a London-based anti-corruption watchdog. ”It is not in favor of supplying information about what it pays foreign governments to secure rights for oil exploration.”
Chevron’s attitude towards disclosure ”will be telling”, he said in an interview, since revelations could help measure the scale of ”under-the-table payments” involved in a country where a small

and powerful elite has ”captured the country’s emerging oil and mineral sectors” for personal gain.

But disclosure about money paid to access the resource is only one part of the transparency and accountability equation. Global Witness activists insists that the oil companies should also disclose what they will pay Cambodia once the revenue starts flowing.

Asia Times