The Mirror, Vol. 11, No. 520
“Phnom Penh: The Anti-Corruption Body of the government [created by a Sub-Decree on 22.8.2006] showed proof to accuse Sry Muyheang and Yim Neang of exhorting US$380,000 from a foreign company in exchange for receiving an investment concession to prospect for diamonds in the Pailin area.
“Mr. Om Yinteang, the head of the Anti-Corruption Body, said in a press conference in the evening of 10 August 2007 at the Council of Ministers, that the arrest of the two offenders and accusing them of extortion is the result of cooperation between his unit, the armed forces, and Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutors, and it is also based on actual evidences at the scene on 2 August 2007.
“At the time, Mr. Om Yinteang showed proof in the form of blackmail papers and messages sent through a mobile phone, and these documents were translated into Khmer for reporters, showing slides, and in the messages there are some points indicating the characteristics of extortion by using the names of top leaders for threatening the recipients.
“Mr. Om Yinteang said that Sry Muyheang, aged 25, who is heading the environmental impacts assessment unit of the Council for the Development of Cambodia [CDC], joined hands with Yim Neang, aged 37, a National Police major and the deputy director of the International Relations Office at the Ministry of Interior. Yim Neang played the roles as Samdech Hun Sen’s son, son-in-law, and brother-in-law, to force a foreign company to believe him.
“Mr. Om Yinteang claimed that, according to the interrogation of the foreigners who had a investment project to prospect for diamonds, they did not bribe anyone, they were victims instead. However, Mr. Om Yinteang tried not to show the name of the company and of the foreigners who were the target of extortion.
“He continued to say that the arrest of the two offenders was not done in response to a complaint by the company, but the arrest was achieved through the network of his unit who saw the two men trying to extort money from the foreigners in a shop, demanding US$380,000, claiming that they were relatives of Samdech Hun Sen.
“Even though Mr. Om Yinteang claimed that the case of the extortion was not related to others besides the two persons, he showed documents confiscated from the two offenders which showed a chart of how to allocate the US$380,000, in which the Ministry of Environment would receive US$50,000, US$180,000 would go for reports on environmental impact assessments and the license, and US$100,000 would support the 2008 national election campaign, US$25,000 would support the 2008 national election in Battambang and Pailin, US$15,000 would be for the CDC, and US$10,000 for a middleman who had introduce the two parties to each other.
“It is known that at the present, the two accused are being detained by a court order.” Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.15, #4360, 11.8.2007
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We apologize because we will not be able to present headlines today. This may continue until and including next Monday, for reasons of very limited staffing. We can cover to select one article per day and have it translated during this time, but we cannot, as normal on other days, select about 15 headlines per day from all the different newspapers – by Tuesday we should be back to normal again.
Norbert Klein
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