Authorities Freeze Heng Pov's $1 Million Account
By Douglas Gillison and Saing Soenthrith
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
Cambodian authorities have frozen a bank account containing over $1 million belonging to wanted former Phnom Penh police chief Heng Pov, Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said Wednesday.
The funds in a Cambodian bank were frozen Monday, said Khieu Sopheak, adding that police do not yet know whether the money was gained through criminal enterprise.
"If it's legal, okay. If illegal, the court will decide," he said. He declined to name the bank in question.
Since Monday, police have been seeking Heng Pov in connection with the 2003 murder of Municipal Court judge Sok Sethamony and the attempted assassinations of three other people, as well as other crimes.
According to Khieu Sopheak, Heng Pov's official monthly salary as Interior Ministry undersecretary of state, a position he occupied after being transferred in January, was $339.
As a two-star general, Heng Pov would have received an additional $36 a month, he said.
Deputy Municipal Police Chief Pol Piethey said he believed that Heng Pov's salary as the city's top police chief would probably have been approximately $50 a month.
Police said this week that they have confiscated $300,000 from a safe at the disgraced former police chief s house in Kandal province's Takhmau district, as well as $30,000 in counterfeit US bills.
"I must stress that up to now he's not guilty. He's under suspicion," said government spokesman and Information Minister Kliieu Kanharith, who also said that Heng Pov received no salary for his role as security adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Thong Uy Pang, publisher of Khmer-language newspaper Koh Santepheap, said Wednesday that he hoped authorities would act on a 1998 complaint he filed at Phnom Penh Municipal Court accusing Heng Pov of involvement in an attempt to assassinate him.
Thong Uy Pang and his bodyguard were both shot in the chest that year but survived.
Thong Uy Pang claimed this was because his newspaper had accused Heng Pov of corruption.
"Since I sued Heng Pov, no one has dared to catch him; even the court is afraid of him because he was a powerful man," he said.
Deputy Municipal Prosecutor Nget Sarafh said that he had acted on Thong Uy Pang's complaint in 2001, charging Heng Pov with "attempted killing." He then hung up.
Khieu Sopheak denied that a longstanding feud with Interior Ministry Penal Police chief Mok Chito had been Heng Pov's undoing.
Mok Chito said that although he has previously been "harassed" by Heng Pov, there was no vendetta.
"I just follow the law in prosecuting this case," he said.
(Additional reporting by Lor Chandara)
The funds in a Cambodian bank were frozen Monday, said Khieu Sopheak, adding that police do not yet know whether the money was gained through criminal enterprise.
"If it's legal, okay. If illegal, the court will decide," he said. He declined to name the bank in question.
Since Monday, police have been seeking Heng Pov in connection with the 2003 murder of Municipal Court judge Sok Sethamony and the attempted assassinations of three other people, as well as other crimes.
According to Khieu Sopheak, Heng Pov's official monthly salary as Interior Ministry undersecretary of state, a position he occupied after being transferred in January, was $339.
As a two-star general, Heng Pov would have received an additional $36 a month, he said.
Deputy Municipal Police Chief Pol Piethey said he believed that Heng Pov's salary as the city's top police chief would probably have been approximately $50 a month.
Police said this week that they have confiscated $300,000 from a safe at the disgraced former police chief s house in Kandal province's Takhmau district, as well as $30,000 in counterfeit US bills.
"I must stress that up to now he's not guilty. He's under suspicion," said government spokesman and Information Minister Kliieu Kanharith, who also said that Heng Pov received no salary for his role as security adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Thong Uy Pang, publisher of Khmer-language newspaper Koh Santepheap, said Wednesday that he hoped authorities would act on a 1998 complaint he filed at Phnom Penh Municipal Court accusing Heng Pov of involvement in an attempt to assassinate him.
Thong Uy Pang and his bodyguard were both shot in the chest that year but survived.
Thong Uy Pang claimed this was because his newspaper had accused Heng Pov of corruption.
"Since I sued Heng Pov, no one has dared to catch him; even the court is afraid of him because he was a powerful man," he said.
Deputy Municipal Prosecutor Nget Sarafh said that he had acted on Thong Uy Pang's complaint in 2001, charging Heng Pov with "attempted killing." He then hung up.
Khieu Sopheak denied that a longstanding feud with Interior Ministry Penal Police chief Mok Chito had been Heng Pov's undoing.
Mok Chito said that although he has previously been "harassed" by Heng Pov, there was no vendetta.
"I just follow the law in prosecuting this case," he said.
(Additional reporting by Lor Chandara)
2 comments:
What is Sar Kheng ,Sok An,Cham Prashit,Khieu Canh Arit,Hoc Lung di and Hun Sen salary?
Any body knows?
Guy watch out this money, someone else will take it as theirs very soon, it will not go the government, with all these corrupted official.....buy more young girls, another party time.
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