The Secret World of Oil by Ken Silverstein

Author:Ken Silverstein [Silverstein, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781781681374
Publisher: Verso Books
Published: 2014-05-13T00:00:00+00:00

For major Western companies trying to navigate this complicated and perilous investment climate, this is where Bretton Sciaroni comes in. The portly Sciaroni makes a most unusual power broker in contemporary Cambodia. A former ideologue of Ronald Reagan’s White House, he played a little-known but vital role in enabling Oliver North’s weapons shipments and assistance to the Nicaraguan Contras during the 1980s. Yet now he is an official adviser to the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, a one-time Khmer Rouge cadre. The Cambodian government has bestowed upon Sciaroni the titles of minister without portfolio and his excellency. He is the chairman of the International Business Chamber (IBC), an association that includes most of the multinational corporations in Cambodia and which is the most important business group in the country.

From his office in an exclusive section of the city—his neighbors include the president of the ruling party—he runs a consulting firm, Sciaroni & Associates, which provides advice and counsel to foreign investors seeking to do business in Cambodia. He has brokered land and natural resource deals that offer little to the public but that benefit government officials and well-connected domestic and foreign insiders, including Bretton Sciaroni.

Sciaroni’s clients include a number of natural resource firms, including Chevron, which received a stake in the most promising field. “Of particular importance for an investor in an emerging economy is the establishment and maintenance of good government relations,” his firm’s Web site explains of its modus operandi.

Sciaroni & Associates enjoys excellent working relationships with major ministries and governmental institutions. Several of our senior staff have served or are serving in various official capacities with the [Cambodian government], giving them the understanding of both the people and processes of government.

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