By Erik Wasson and Phann Ana
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
There could be only one reason that could have
caused this problem. It was the president of the
contractor company who was involved
with an assassination attempt. This could have
been exaggerated and the ministry has been
accused of committing various
instances of corruption for personal revenge."
—Keo Rottanak,
Ministry of industry project director,
in draft report prepared for World Bank
caused this problem. It was the president of the
contractor company who was involved
with an assassination attempt. This could have
been exaggerated and the ministry has been
accused of committing various
instances of corruption for personal revenge."
—Keo Rottanak,
Ministry of industry project director,
in draft report prepared for World Bank
Officials at the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy said Thursday that accusations of irregularities in a World Bank-funded project at the ministry stemmed from an assassination plot in 2005 against the project's manager.
Officials said that the head of the Singaporean-Cambodian firm Sincam, one of six private companies contracted to lay pipes for the $19.9 million Provincial and Peri-Urban Water and Sanitation project, was arrested in November over allegations that he was plotting to kill the ministry's project manager, Meng Saktheara.
Tith Voeurn, the managing director of Sincam Water Technology, confirmed Thursday that he was arrested over the assassination allegations, but said he had been framed in an extortion plot engineered by a now-jailed Phnom Penh police official.
Funding for the $19.9 million project was frozen by Finance Minister Keat Chhon on May 22. Also frozen was a World Bank-funded project in the Land Management Ministry worth $24.3 million and a project shared between the Rural Development Ministry and the Ministry of Transport worth $20 million.
The World Bank said Sunday that it had found misuse of funds in a total of seven current and former projects worth $64.5 million, but so far it has released information on only the three projects.
Keo Rottanak, Ministry of Industry project director in charge of the waterworks project, said that the assassination plot against Meng Saktheara led to the World Bank's suspicions.
"It was triggered by that" he said. The court acquitted the suspects, this is the trouble of our justice system. My manager still fears for his life."
In a new draft report on the water project prepared for the World Bank, Keo Rottanak explained how the allegations of corruption may have arisen.
"There could be only one reason that could have caused this problem," he wrote. "It was the president of the contractor company who was involved with an assassination attempt. This could have been exaggerated and the ministry has been accused of committing various instances of corruption for personal revenge."
Travelling on Thursday with Minister of Industry Suy Sem to inspect the water project, Project Manager Meng Saktheara said by telephone that he feared for his life and for his family. He also denied that the alleged plot against his life was the result of a rigged procurement deal involving Sincam.
"If I was a corrupt official I would not have this problem," he said of the alleged assassination plot.
"Tith Voeurn is the owner of Sincam and he was involved in the plot... They offered me something but I declined it and that is why I have this problem," he said.
Meng Saktheara said that collusion to inflate prices by contractors working on the Bank-funded project could not have occurred, because the ministry set the construction costs.
"The way that you can do corruption on this project is to use less expensive materials and charge the ministry the full price. But anyone can go and see these projects and the materials they used," he said.
"I have done my job correctly... The Ministry of Finance has overreacted."
Tith Voeurn admitted that he had been arrested and charged with plotting to assassinate the project manager. However, he said that his arrest was a plot by corrupt police officers, who had discovered that Sincam had won seven World Bank-funded contracts worth $2 million.
"Yes they arrested me, it was part of an extortion attempt by [former deputy bureau chief of minor crimes] Ly Rasy, [former Tuol Kok police chief] Hun Song and [former deputy Tuol Kok police chief] Heng Vattana," he said.
"They arrested me on Nov 27. Based on the allegations by a Tuol Kok police spy...they were confused that I had made a lot of money and they wanted to extort money."
He claimed that Ly Rasy's officers presented him with a forced confession by Tith Voeurn's son that they were both planning to kill Meng Saktheara. Ly Rasy was jailed in January; he is accused of involvement in the killing of judge Sok Sethamony in 2003 and of the death a woman in custody last year. Heng Vattana is also in jail; Hun Song is sought by authorities and remains at large.
"Police arrested me and encouraged Meng Saktheara to complain against me," Tith Voeurn said.
"If I had really tried to assassinate him, I could not have been freed [by the municipal court]," he added.
Meng Saktheara said that the court acquitted Tith Voeurn and his son due to a lack of evidence, and that he did not appeal the release because he wanted the issue to end.
Tith Voeurn said that World Bank investigators had questioned him about the alleged assassination plot. "Several World Bank officers came up to me and asked why the problem happened. I told them that there was a lot of pressure against contractors in MIME," he said, without elaborating.
He denied that his company had been involved in any corruption. "Some people complained to the World Bank and alleged that I did not do a good job, but my company did very well," he said.
There are 18 contracts in the provincial and peri-urban water and sanitation project involving local companies Kim-mex, Sakor, PTPV and Sophorn Ratanak, a Chinese firm, CCEC, and Sincam.
White admitting that it would be possible for the six companies to collude to inflate bids, Keo Rottanak said that there is no evidence of procedural violations in the projects procurement.
The World Bank task manager Luiz Tavares completed his report two days after the Finance Minister froze the account," Keo Rottanak said. "[Tavares] said it is going very well."
The Ministry of Industry is in crisis now because it will incur financial liabilities that it cannot afford if the Ministry of Finance refuses to pay the six contractors, Keo Rottanak said.
"I do not know how to implement the order of the Minster of Finance," he said.
According to a tetter dated May 23, Suy Sem wrote to Prime Minister Hun Sen telling him that the assassination attempt alone was behind the investigation by the World Bank's Department of Institutional Integrity.
"In my meeting with the World Bank, it has stated that it is waiting for the report from the Department of Institutional Integrity. While waiting for this result the ministry does not need to annul or suspend any contract," Suy Sem wrote in the letter.
David Thirkill, a Louis Berger Group consultant for the water project based at the ministry, said it would be a catastrophe if the project were suspended.
"Personally, I feel there may be some problems with the Rural Development Ministry and Land Management Ministry and we have been unfortunately lumped in together with them. The project is going really well," Thirkill said.
"All of the people at this ministry, I know them well and find it hard to believe they would be involved in corruption."
World Bank External Affairs officer Kimberly Versak did not respond to questions about the investigation of the water project and its relationship to the alleged assassination plot.
Senior Finance Ministry officials did not answer their telephones on Thursday.
Officials said that the head of the Singaporean-Cambodian firm Sincam, one of six private companies contracted to lay pipes for the $19.9 million Provincial and Peri-Urban Water and Sanitation project, was arrested in November over allegations that he was plotting to kill the ministry's project manager, Meng Saktheara.
Tith Voeurn, the managing director of Sincam Water Technology, confirmed Thursday that he was arrested over the assassination allegations, but said he had been framed in an extortion plot engineered by a now-jailed Phnom Penh police official.
Funding for the $19.9 million project was frozen by Finance Minister Keat Chhon on May 22. Also frozen was a World Bank-funded project in the Land Management Ministry worth $24.3 million and a project shared between the Rural Development Ministry and the Ministry of Transport worth $20 million.
The World Bank said Sunday that it had found misuse of funds in a total of seven current and former projects worth $64.5 million, but so far it has released information on only the three projects.
Keo Rottanak, Ministry of Industry project director in charge of the waterworks project, said that the assassination plot against Meng Saktheara led to the World Bank's suspicions.
"It was triggered by that" he said. The court acquitted the suspects, this is the trouble of our justice system. My manager still fears for his life."
In a new draft report on the water project prepared for the World Bank, Keo Rottanak explained how the allegations of corruption may have arisen.
"There could be only one reason that could have caused this problem," he wrote. "It was the president of the contractor company who was involved with an assassination attempt. This could have been exaggerated and the ministry has been accused of committing various instances of corruption for personal revenge."
Travelling on Thursday with Minister of Industry Suy Sem to inspect the water project, Project Manager Meng Saktheara said by telephone that he feared for his life and for his family. He also denied that the alleged plot against his life was the result of a rigged procurement deal involving Sincam.
"If I was a corrupt official I would not have this problem," he said of the alleged assassination plot.
"Tith Voeurn is the owner of Sincam and he was involved in the plot... They offered me something but I declined it and that is why I have this problem," he said.
Meng Saktheara said that collusion to inflate prices by contractors working on the Bank-funded project could not have occurred, because the ministry set the construction costs.
"The way that you can do corruption on this project is to use less expensive materials and charge the ministry the full price. But anyone can go and see these projects and the materials they used," he said.
"I have done my job correctly... The Ministry of Finance has overreacted."
Tith Voeurn admitted that he had been arrested and charged with plotting to assassinate the project manager. However, he said that his arrest was a plot by corrupt police officers, who had discovered that Sincam had won seven World Bank-funded contracts worth $2 million.
"Yes they arrested me, it was part of an extortion attempt by [former deputy bureau chief of minor crimes] Ly Rasy, [former Tuol Kok police chief] Hun Song and [former deputy Tuol Kok police chief] Heng Vattana," he said.
"They arrested me on Nov 27. Based on the allegations by a Tuol Kok police spy...they were confused that I had made a lot of money and they wanted to extort money."
He claimed that Ly Rasy's officers presented him with a forced confession by Tith Voeurn's son that they were both planning to kill Meng Saktheara. Ly Rasy was jailed in January; he is accused of involvement in the killing of judge Sok Sethamony in 2003 and of the death a woman in custody last year. Heng Vattana is also in jail; Hun Song is sought by authorities and remains at large.
"Police arrested me and encouraged Meng Saktheara to complain against me," Tith Voeurn said.
"If I had really tried to assassinate him, I could not have been freed [by the municipal court]," he added.
Meng Saktheara said that the court acquitted Tith Voeurn and his son due to a lack of evidence, and that he did not appeal the release because he wanted the issue to end.
Tith Voeurn said that World Bank investigators had questioned him about the alleged assassination plot. "Several World Bank officers came up to me and asked why the problem happened. I told them that there was a lot of pressure against contractors in MIME," he said, without elaborating.
He denied that his company had been involved in any corruption. "Some people complained to the World Bank and alleged that I did not do a good job, but my company did very well," he said.
There are 18 contracts in the provincial and peri-urban water and sanitation project involving local companies Kim-mex, Sakor, PTPV and Sophorn Ratanak, a Chinese firm, CCEC, and Sincam.
White admitting that it would be possible for the six companies to collude to inflate bids, Keo Rottanak said that there is no evidence of procedural violations in the projects procurement.
The World Bank task manager Luiz Tavares completed his report two days after the Finance Minister froze the account," Keo Rottanak said. "[Tavares] said it is going very well."
The Ministry of Industry is in crisis now because it will incur financial liabilities that it cannot afford if the Ministry of Finance refuses to pay the six contractors, Keo Rottanak said.
"I do not know how to implement the order of the Minster of Finance," he said.
According to a tetter dated May 23, Suy Sem wrote to Prime Minister Hun Sen telling him that the assassination attempt alone was behind the investigation by the World Bank's Department of Institutional Integrity.
"In my meeting with the World Bank, it has stated that it is waiting for the report from the Department of Institutional Integrity. While waiting for this result the ministry does not need to annul or suspend any contract," Suy Sem wrote in the letter.
David Thirkill, a Louis Berger Group consultant for the water project based at the ministry, said it would be a catastrophe if the project were suspended.
"Personally, I feel there may be some problems with the Rural Development Ministry and Land Management Ministry and we have been unfortunately lumped in together with them. The project is going really well," Thirkill said.
"All of the people at this ministry, I know them well and find it hard to believe they would be involved in corruption."
World Bank External Affairs officer Kimberly Versak did not respond to questions about the investigation of the water project and its relationship to the alleged assassination plot.
Senior Finance Ministry officials did not answer their telephones on Thursday.
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