Official Misconduct in Cambodia Many headlines in the newspapers speak of the misdeeds, abuse of power, and impunity of the officials and VIPs of Cambodia. The sheer number of such headlines is astounding.  Most citizens of other countries complain of the occasional abuse by some officials, but in Cambodia it is rather routine.  This page will highlight some of the headlines about officialdom here in Cambodia with enough of the text of the article to give the context for the headline.  Of course, these headlines only "allege" wrong-doing. HA!  All headlines are from The Cambodia Daily unless otherwise noted.

21 December 2010   Man Sues When $30,000 for a Gov't Job Doesn't Materialize A former assistant to Interior Minister Sar Kheng faced trial at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court...on charges that he fraudulently accepted $30,000 to provide a prestigious government job to a low-ranking official.... The man who paid the $30,000, however, will not be charged with paying a bribe as he claims that he thought he was contributing the money to the Interior Ministry....

18 August 2009 Official's Nephew Crashes Car and Threatens Police The nephew of a high-ranking official crashed his car in Phnom Penh...and then allegedly returned to the scene to threaten police officers..., traffic police said....

30 July 2009 Police Officer Charged with Attempted Murder The military police officer in Banteay Meanchey province accused of shooting a 23-year-old man in the back after breaking up a gang fight has been charged with attempted murder.

29 July 2009 RCAF Trucks Seen Carrying Illegally Logged Wood Forestry administration officials witnessed more than 60 RCAF [Royal Cambodian Armed Forces] trucks transporting illegally logged rosewood from Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey provinces..., officials said....

28 July 2009 Officials Link District Military Police Chief to Illegal Logging A joint team of forestry officials and military police seized seven cars in Kompong Thom province reportedly carrying stashes of illegally logged wood and have linked a district military police chief to the crime....

16 July 2009 Lighting Official Is Accused in Electricity Scam An official in Phnom Penh's public lighting unit has been given one week to respond to allegations that he sent false electricity bills to a local company and pocketed 15 million riel, or about $3,570, in the scam....

10 July 2009 Warrant Issued for RCAF Captain after Murder The military court in Phnom Penh has issued an arrest warrant for an RCAF captain who allegedly killed a man in his employ by setting him on fire...in Pursat province following an argument over a missing pangolin.... [Note: a pangolin is a rare species of ground mammal regularly being poached and traded illegally.]

5 May 2009 Government to Crack Down on Officials with RCAF, Police Plates Owners of luxury cars, senior RCAF and police officials, and many ordinary businessmen were rushing...to change their vehicles' license plates from military and police plates to civilian ones, officials said. ... If officials wish to use these two types of license plates, their vehicles must be registered as state property under the control of the Interior or National Defense ministries.

24 April 2009 Villagers Claim Senior Official Grabbed Land Kachok ethnic minority villagers....have filed a complaint against a deputy provincial governor, accusing him of illegally grabbing their land, a human rights worker said....  [He] used his power to order four provincial police officers, armed with an AK-47 assault rifles and pistols, to threaten the hilltribe villagers....

22 April 2009 Ratanakkiri Villagers Accuse Officer of Shooting A group of ethnic minority villagers...have accused a military police officer of shooting at them while trying to pass their vehicle on a road in Lumphat district....  Military police officer Meas Kosal allegedly shot an AK-47 at the tires of a mechanical tiller loaded with 22 people....

26 June 2009 Government Ministries Deny Receiving Money from Forgery Suspect Three government ministries this week denied having received thousands of dollars in payments from a Justice Ministry official who has been arrested for allegedly forging documents to secure the release of a convicted pedophile.

20 June 2009 Officials Mum on KR Tribunal Judicial Appointments Memo Government officials were at a loss this week to explain a 2006 memorandum appearing to show that judicial appointments at the Khmer Rouge tribunal were the decision of Prime Minister Hun Sen and Cabinet Minister Sok An.  The memo...appears to contradict claims in 2006 that the tribunal's 17 Cambodian judges and prosecutors were selected and vetted by the Supreme Council of the Magistracy.  Created to assist the King in guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary, the nine-member supreme council is legally mandated to select all judges and prosecutors, including those at the Khmer Rouge tribunal.

6 June 2009 Commune Clerk Charged with Wife's Murder Chan Bunheng, a commune clerk in Kratie province's O'Krieng commune in Sambor district, was arrested ...for allegedly murdering his wife by beating her about the chest and head in front his home....

21 April 2009 Lawyer Faces No Jail Time for Hit-and-Run Prominent Cambodian lawyer Nou Chantha will face no jail time for a hit-and-run incident in Phnom Penh that left one man with a broken leg and another with a gunshot wound to the stomach....

25 March 2009 Villagers Shot at by Authorities Come to Phnom Penh to Protest On Sunday, 95 police and military police reportedly opened fire on the group of 300 farmers, who accuse authorities...of plotting to sell the land they have been farming since 1981.

19 March 2009 Banteay Meanchey Villagers Protest RCAF Claims on Land ...The dispute began in December after soldiers from the tank unit set up tents on the land, which villagers have farmed since 1994, and claimed it for the army....

13 March 2009 Heng Pov Gets 16 Years for Conspiracy to Kill The Phnom Penh Municipal Court added another 16 years to the prison sentence of disgraced former municipal police chief Heng Pov on Thursday for being party to an unsuccessful conspiracy to kill national military police commander Sao Sokha in 2003....

24 February 2009 Senior Police Officer Held in Attempted Murder of Publisher A senior police officer was arrested in connection with the 1998 attempted murder of the publisher of the popular Koh Santepheap—Island of Peace—newspaper....

10 February 2009   Soldiers in B Meanchey Accused of Land-Grabbing More than 100 people in Banteay Meanchey province's Preah Netr Preah district are accusing RCAF soldiers of shooting at them and seizing their farmland, a village representative said....

2 February 2009   Singer's Daughter Accused in Hit and Run The daughter of a famous singer is accused of fatally striking a motorbike passenger...with a Toyota Camry and then fleeing the scene as the victim laid on top of her car, police said....

24 December 2008 Police Probe Reported Rich Kid Gang Raid Police said they are investigating an alleged attack by a gang of wealth young men who raided a house in Phnom Penh's Chamkar Mon district armed with assault rifles, steel pipes, and a Taser stun-gun...At about 4:30 PM Sunday, 20 young men blocked Street 113 in Boeng Kang Kong III commune with their luxury cars--two Audis, a Camry, a Lexus, and a Hummer....

4 December 2008 Ministry Looking into K Speu Graft Complaints The Ministry of Justice is investigating several corruption complaints that have been made against officials at the Kompong Speu Provincial Court, Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana said....

29 August 2008 Former Police Official Handed 7 Years in Land-Grab Scheme A senior police official who grabbed and cleared 27.1 hectares of state forest in Preah Vihear province was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court....

29 August 2008 Suit Says Officials Allowed Deforestation in Ratanakkiri Local rights group Adhoc has filed a lawsuit at the Ratanakkiri Provincial Court accusing Lumphat district forestry officials, governors, and other local authorities of receiving kickbacks in exchange for turning a blind eye to large-scale deforestation in Batang commune.

25 August 2008   Gov't Slams US Reporter's Car Crash Story Information Minister Khieu Kanharith...denounced an article by a prize-winning US journalist [Joel Brinkley] regarding events surrounding a recent fatal traffic accident allegedly involving a nephew of Prime Minister Hun Sen....  The article...drew a comparison between the authorities' handling of the crash, in which a man was killed, and the country's culture of impunity....  Brinkley's article referred to a local newspaper report that Hun Sen's nephew, Hun Chea, paid $4,000 compensation following the accident that resulted in the death of a man...but faces no other consequences.

29 January 2009 Son of Provincial Police Chief Escapes Charges in Accident The son of Kampong Chhnang provincial police chief Ath Khem will not be prosecuted for fleeing the scene of a traffic accident in Pursat province that left two people dead, one of whom was a woman seven-months pregnant, police said....

27 January 2009 RCAF Chief Fired Over Land; Funcinpec Official Prime Minister Hun Sen told the weekly Council of Ministers meeting that former RCAF Commander in Chief Ke Kim Yan was removed from his post because of his involvement in land disputes, an official who was at the meeting claimed....and because his business interests were interfering with his job as chief of the military.

7 January 2009 Son of Comic Flees After Driving Drunk; Arrested The son of a famous comedian was arrested for drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident, police said.... He was arrested but only briefly detained before his parents came and agreed to compensate the victims of the crash.

24 February 2009 Senior Police Officer Held in Attempted Murder of Publisher A senior police officer was arrested in connection with the 1998 attempted murder of the publisher of the popular Koh Santepheap—Island of Peace—newspaper, an official with the National Military Police said.

24 February 2009 Poipet Street Vendors Accuse Border Officials of Extortion Forty disabled street vendors protested in front of the customs office in Poipet town, accusing Cambodian border authorities of extorting money from them, according to a vendor and a labor rights organization.

30 December 2008 Attack Victims File Complaint: Fear Police Won't Investigate Victims of an alleged gang attack last week in Phnom Penh filed a complaint with the municipal police, accusing the sons of high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen of having beaten them bloody in a case of mistaken identity. The complaint may be of little help, however, as the victims fear that the suspects' family connections means police will not investigate them.

13 February 2009 Police Officer Sought in Fatal Hit and Run Police in Kampong Cham province are searching for a provincial police officer who allegedly fled the scene after hitting and killing a 16-year-old girl riding a motorcycle with his Toyota Land Cruiser, police said....

11 February 2009 RCAF Soldiers Accused of Shooting at Villagers Three families in Preah Vihear's Choam Ksan district have filed a complaint with police claiming that four RCAF soldiers opened fire on them and other villagers with AK-47 assault rifles, police said....

11 February 2009 District Governor Admits to Slapping Man in Dispute Russei Keo District Governor Khlalng Huot slapped a man twice outside a hotel in Tuol Kok district after a traffic accident, the governor and the man said....

19 January 2009   Military Police Shoot Protesters, Groups Say Military police assisting a private company to clear land farmed by about 300 families in Kandal province allegedly shot two protesting villagers..., local residents and human rights groups said....

11 January 2009   SRP Officials Arrested in Alleged S'ville Property-Selling Scheme Sihanoukville police arrested two SRP commune councillors...for allegedly selling land that didn't belong to them in Prey Nop district's Bit Traing commune, officials said.

14 December 2008   Rich Using Courts Against Villagers in Land Disputes: Adhoc So far this year, a total of 146 villagers nationwide have been charged with criminal offenses related to land disputes with the rich and powerful, local rights group Adhoc announced....

17 February 2008 Document Shows Disputed Land Offered to Officials Senior officials, including party leaders, a former governor, and the prosecutor in charge of the case, were to receive portions of disputed land in Banteay Meanchey from a development organization, according to documents obtained Monday. The National Agriculture Development organization offered to split more than 50 hectares of land between at least 14 officials...according to a NADA internal document....

17 February 2008 PM Says Land-Grabbers Fired Prime Minister Hun Sen warned he would continue fighting against corrupt military and government officials who use their positions to encroach on other people's land but stopped short of naming names....

16 February 2008 Prosecutor Accused of Bias in Land-Dispute Case The prosecutor of the Pursat Provincial Court is allegedly involved in a land-dispute case that was mysteriously moved to his court from the Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court last week....

16 February 2008 Police Official's Son Held over Alleged Attack Police in Phnom Penh...arrested the 22-year-old son of a high-ranking police official for allegedly attacking a union leader and two garment workers and destroying their motorcycle in Dangkao District, police said....

22 December 2008 Ministry Staff Say Forced to Pay Kickbacks Senior Ministry of Health medical staff have alleged that they were forced, and are being forced, to pay large kickbacks to senior officials in exchange for the dispersal of a long-delayed pay increase.

17 October 2008 Bar President Elected Amid Alleged Gift-Giving Attorney Chiv Songhak was elected the new president of the Cambodian Bar Association...for the next two-year term, amid allegations that he had given out gifts to voters.

27 January 2008 Local Tycoons Hand Out Cash to the Military and City Police Marking the Chinese New Year with flair on Monday, two local tycoons handed out individual gifts of as much as $25 in cash to members of the city's municipal and military police force, officers said.

27 January 2008 Police, Officials Burn More Than 100 Homes in Land Dispute Police and forestry officials burned more than 100 homes in Banteay Meanchey province...in a land dispute that has villagers and authorities accusing each other of breaking the law, villagers and officials said.

10 December 2008 Karaoke Star's Car Knocks Head Off Statue A karaoke video star's Toyota Camry crashed into a recently erected monument to renowned Buddhist scholar Chuon Nath in a traffic circle in Phnom Penh..., breaking the head off a concrete lion and damaging a Naga statue, officials said. Military police are searching for the driver and passengers, who ditched the car and fled the scene....

8 December 2008> SRP Urges End to Abuse of Official License Plates Lawmakers for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party...sent a formal request to Minister of Public Works and Transportation Trem Iv Tek urging an end to the illegal use of license plates meant solely for government vehicles.

30 October 2008> Family of 'Rich Kid' Shooter Gives Victims Cash The family of a 25-year-old man who is wanted for killing a woman and injuring two others in an unprovoked shooting outside the Royal Palace...has paid compensation to his victims, the wanted man's lawyer said.... [Editor's Note: Meaning he is trying to buy off the family so they won't prosecute.]

10 November 2008 Principal Under Investigation over Embezzlement Allegations A high school principal in Prey Veng province is under investigation for allegedly embezzling school funds and illegally grabbing school land to build a private residence, teachers and provincial officials said....

5 November 2008 Officer Arrested Over Car Full of Illegal Fish Takeo province fisheries department officials arrested a military police officer and impounded a car containing 500 kg of pacu, a type of fish that is banned in Cambodia, Takeo fisheries department director Kim Sarith said....

3 November 2008 RCAF General Detained in Alleged Land Grab ...[A]n RCAF two-star general has been detained on suspicion of having forged documents to grab land in Kandal province, officials said...

26 November 2008 Village Chief Accused of Intimidation Residents taking part in a training course to organize a local community group in Phnom Penh's threatened Boeng Kak lake area have accursed a village chief of threatening them for participating.

30 October 2008 Group Accuses RCAF Soldier,Police Major of Clearing Forest Local rights group Adhoc filed a complaint with the Ratanakiri Provincial Court...accusing a police major and an RCAF soldier of clearing more than 300 hectares of forest in Lumphat district....

22 September 2008 Wildlife Official Denies Taking Bribes to Allow Illegal Logging A Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary official denied allegations made by local villagers that he took bribes to allow 11 sawmills to illegally operate inside the Pursat province protected area....

8 October 2008 Police Searching for RCAF Soldier Suspected in Shooting A lieutenant(!) is being sought in the shooting of innocent bystanders after people in three vehicles smashed into the soldier's Lexus SUV(!) in front of the royal palace at 1:00 AM in the morning. The "suspect" killed one person and injured two others, and is now on the run.

12 September 2008 Officials Questioned over Unlawful Selling of Forest The Ratanakkiri Provincial Court questioned two O'Chum district governors over allegations made by more than 30 ethnic minority villagers that the governors had conspired together to unlawfully sell 15 hectares of community forest....

11 September 2008 RCAF Major Accused of Shooting Woman in Karaoke Parlor Kandal police have accused an RCAF major of shooting dead a 21-year-old woman during drunken gun play in a Kandal province floating restaurant on the night of Sept 4. The case against RCAF major Mean Sokchea was submitted to the Kandal Provincial Court though no charges have been brought against him. Mean Sokchea was arrested following the shooting, but he is no longer in custody...

2 September 2008 5 Police, 2 Soldiers Suspended in Illegal Logging Investigation The investigation...has revealed that the men were involved in logging in Andong Meas district's Nhang commune and transported the timber to Vietnam...

2 September 2008 Assets of Detained Former Police Chief Remain Frozen The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has rejected a request from children of former Phnom Penh Police Chief Heng Pov to unfreeze their father's assets so that they can have access to his money, court documents show. Heng Pov has been jailed since Dec 21, 2006 on a slew of charges including extortion and murder...

25 May 2008 Military Police Official Sought in Acid Attack A warrant has been issued for the arrest of National Military Police Deputy Chief of Staff Chea Ratha, who is wanted in connection with a May 6 acid attack that seriously disfigured a Phnom Penh woman, police and court officials said Tuesday. Warrants have also been issued for three Phnom Penh police officers for their alleged involvement in the attack....

28 December 2005 'Sexy Singer' Banned from CTN After PM Appeal Popular singer and racy dancer Chea Sovanna has been banned from CTN [a government television station]...following a direct appeal to station owner Kith Meng by Prime Minister Hun Sen....  Government spokesman...Khieu Kanharith said that changes dictated to CTN will be imposed on other stations as well. [Editor's Note: Who needs a legislature anyway?]

19 December 2005 Son of Deputy Chief Allegedly Kills Man in Crash One man was killed and four seriously injured when the 25-year-old son of Takeo province's deputy police chief allegedly crashed his vehicle on two separate occasions on Saturday night, the second crash happening after the young man escaped from the scene of the first crash, police said.

20 November 2007 Government To Convert Land To State Property The government has agreed to convert three Labor Ministry departments in Phnom Penh into state private property, which could allow for their transfer to private ownership....  [A lawmaker] said it was surprising that Prime Minister Hun Sen, who recently instructed the ministries of Health and Education to stop transferring schools and hospitals to private companies, would sign off on this subdecree. [Editor's Note: Not surprising at all!]

20 November 2007 S Reap Police Detain, Release Son of Official Police in Siem Reap town released the son of a senior Interior Ministry official on Friday after detaining him and two others for allegedly drawing guns during an altercation, officials said. ...Ou Em said Khann Rithy [the detained son] was released by police after paying $200 to his alleged victim, who withdrew his complaint.  "It is a compromise between parties, the suspects and the victim," he said.... "Violators have always used money for compensation. Because of this, they do not fear the law."...

12 November 2007 Police Pursue M'Reah Prov Oil Thief Suspects Police in Kampong Chhnang province confiscated about 1,000 liters of m'reah prov oil from a vehicle bearing RCAF (Royal Cambodian Armed Forces) plates....  Several pairs of license plates were found in the vehicle, all of them fake except for one set belonging to an RCAF general.

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