In the battle to save Cambodia's tropical hardwood forests from destruction, it seemed like a case the conservationists could not lose. The government had what looked like ironclad evidence, gathered from aerial inspections and on site visits, that a Malaysian company was illegally logging Cambodian forests. But when the case came before a provincial court-with unusual speed and without the government's forest crime monitoring unit in Phnom Penh being informed-the company said it was not cutting the logs for sale but simply clearing access for roads and bridges.