South Korean Businessman Gets Deported
By Douglas Gillison and Kay Kimsong
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
A South Korean businessman whose company claimed to have invented a hybrid air-powered and electric car has been deported from Cambodia, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.
Cho Cheol-seung, 63, was deported Friday to South Korea, where he stands accused of an array of offenses that may include financial crimes and fraud, said Interior Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak.
Cho met in May with senior Cambodian government officials and Prime Minister Hun Sen to discuss establishing a factory to produce the so-called Pneumatic Hybrid Electric Vehicles.
"In Korea, that guy has committed 16 or 17 offenses and he was wanted under the South Korean criminal code," Khieu Sopheak said. "He [was] deported to South Korea last Friday," he added.
South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo reported Tuesday that Cho was arrested in Cambodia at the request of South Korean authorities who accuse him of defrauding 3,300 investors of $8.1 million to fund the development of the car, which the newspaper said was a fictitious invention.
Cho's design, however, has been patented by the US government and press reports indicate it was exhibited both at the 2002 Paris Auto Show and to reporters in South Korea.
The Chosun Ilbo also reported that after shareholders threatened to sue, Cho came to Cambodia in January in the hopes of building a factory, and had planned to unveil the car in Phnom Penh on Nov 13.
Cho's company, Energine Corporation, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Sat Samy, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, who met with Cho in June and had visited the company and reportedly seen a working prototype of the car, said that no agreement had been reached with Energine.
"We will not encourage bad investors or bad investments because the government really discourages those who do bad things," he said.
Cho Cheol-seung, 63, was deported Friday to South Korea, where he stands accused of an array of offenses that may include financial crimes and fraud, said Interior Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak.
Cho met in May with senior Cambodian government officials and Prime Minister Hun Sen to discuss establishing a factory to produce the so-called Pneumatic Hybrid Electric Vehicles.
"In Korea, that guy has committed 16 or 17 offenses and he was wanted under the South Korean criminal code," Khieu Sopheak said. "He [was] deported to South Korea last Friday," he added.
South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo reported Tuesday that Cho was arrested in Cambodia at the request of South Korean authorities who accuse him of defrauding 3,300 investors of $8.1 million to fund the development of the car, which the newspaper said was a fictitious invention.
Cho's design, however, has been patented by the US government and press reports indicate it was exhibited both at the 2002 Paris Auto Show and to reporters in South Korea.
The Chosun Ilbo also reported that after shareholders threatened to sue, Cho came to Cambodia in January in the hopes of building a factory, and had planned to unveil the car in Phnom Penh on Nov 13.
Cho's company, Energine Corporation, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Sat Samy, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, who met with Cho in June and had visited the company and reportedly seen a working prototype of the car, said that no agreement had been reached with Energine.
"We will not encourage bad investors or bad investments because the government really discourages those who do bad things," he said.
1 comment:
Is corruption part of doing bad thing? If so maybe the gov't should starting cleaning that up too.
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