Thursday, August 03, 2006

Hun Sen Verbally Attacks Report Critical of Government Corruption - [CTN buckle under Hun Sen criticism: TV program citing EIC report is silenced]

Prime minister Hun Sen (Photo: RFA archive)

Reaksmey Heng
Voice of America
Phnom Penh
02/08/2006


Prime Minister Hun Sen attacks a recent economic report charging that about 75% of the national budget is lost due to corruption.

Mr. Hun Sen did not cite the source by name, but it believed to be a recent report by President and Founder of the Economic Institute of Cambodia, Mr. Sok Hach, last month criticizing the loss of national budget by about 75%.

Mr. Hun Sen makes the comments at the opening ceremony of a waste recycling site in Preah Sihanoukville city, saying it is true that some of the state budget is lost, but not 75%.

He says that if it were true, then Cambodia will encounter chaos and the civil servants as well as the businessmen are all thieves. He compared the critics on the Cambodian economy to worms and ignorant people.

Mr. Sok Hach's Economic Institute of Cambodia issued a report in July based on the survey of 1,200 businessmen saying that the government can only get an income of 25% in 2005, saying they unofficially paid money to government officials in order to evade paying taxes (on their merchandises).

The same report assesses that the government would probably have lost $400 millions from unpaid taxes in 2005.

President and Founder of the Economic Institute of Cambodia, Mr. Sok Hach, declines to comment on this issue, saying he does not know exactly about the nature of Mr. Hen Sen's criticisms.

He says that in the past his words have been quoted by the Cambodia Daily on July 19, before the report,and that he has met with a top tax department official at the Ministry of Economy and Finance about the number (of the budget loss) in his report.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who was Ministry of Economy and Finance in the (government) first term, says that the national budget was definitely lost due to corruption. He says that corruption comes in a very wide variety of forms in Cambodia, making this country poor.

Cambodia Center for Human Rights' director (CCHR) Kem Sokha says that the Cambodian government should not have conflicts with NGOs, saying that the economic organization had clear evidences before it issued any report on national budget loss.

Cambodia is considered to be one of the poorest countries in the world, relying on annual loans and aids from donor countries for its budget of about $600 millions. About 40% of 14 million Cambodians make less than one dollar a day.

In another development, Cambodian TV station, CTN immediately suspended its program called Cambodia Today and a Sunday discussion program several hours after Mr. Hun Sen criticized comments by the program's host reading an article published in a newspaper on the Economic Institute of Cambodia's report criticizing the government, says CTN's programmer.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Boo!!!!!!!!
KIT MENG DID IT?

THANK MR. KIT MENG KEEP THE PROGRAM RUNNING!

Anonymous said...

That is good to bring some negative sides of the government to the public. Don't be a trained animal that follows directions blindly. Be a human being with a human brain....

Anonymous said...

That's true (See Hun Sen's quote)

All cambodian government officials are more or less thieves.
They steal resources from Cambodians people.
The small one steal to survive. The big one steal to be millionaire and to be able to feed several wives.

Mr Hun, you have to realize that all of your people are thieves.

Anonymous said...

To all Cambodians.

It's time to change the regime.

Vote for someboby else other than "the king of corruption Hun Sen" and his clan.

There is no reason to keep him.

It's sick to hear his backing.

Anonymous said...

As usual, he shows his "rude & impolite" again.

Anonymous said...

He admitted that "...budget is lost, but not 75%"...So how much is it?

45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, or 70%? So how much is it, doggy?

Anonymous said...

Even if it was .0000000001 percent, it is still a lost. The point is, the thieves stole the money. This is disgraceful, $300-$400 millions is a lot of money to lose. This is one the main reason why Cambodia is still a very poor country.

CTN, as much as I support you for bring up some truth about the Hun Sen government, you must be very careful. Hun Sen is very capable of silencing his critics.

Anonymous said...

Hun Sen has one eye. When he looks, he's always aim at the one that he can see. Now when some lead him to another side, it might be a surprise for him that he government all are corrupted. There is a lot bussinessmen are trying to avoid paying tax and bribe the government personnel and some of that government do not know Jack as long as they get money and get rich who care about poor people around them. Even though, they sell Cambodia to their neighbor if they have money to pay them. I think some of you remembered Oudong, there were a lot of bamboo with torn our ancestors grow them to protect our territory so Thai couldn't invade us. Then they( Thai ) tossed the silver in that. Our people flocked in and cleaned them up to get the silver. This happening today is the same thing. All of the corruptors think is money and land crabbing they do not think about the future of next generations to come. Go Ahead enjoy today and pay back later.