Ministry To Examine Alleged Sale of School Land in Takeo
By Kuch Naren
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
The Education Ministry will investigate complaints that a Takeo province deputy schoolmaster allegedly sold school land to a family member, officials aid teachers said Wednesday.
Six teachers from Hun Sen Angtrei High School in Samraong district's Lumchong commune say that in September they learned that Uch Sokhan had sold 2.5 hectares of the school's land to his son-in-law, according to teacher Chrunh Sem, a group representative alleged.
"Generally, whenever there are complaints we will conduct an investigation," said Mak Vann, secretary of state at the Education Ministry, adding that he met with six teachers for over an hour at the ministry Wednesday morning to discuss the matter.
Teachers only learned the parcel of land had been sold after an inter-ministerial committee, which included officials from the Land Management Ministry, arrived to survey the land, Chrunh Sem said.
"We just asked for the Education Ministry's intervention to get the land back because the deputy schoolmaster should not take school land as his own and sell it to put money in his pockets," he said.
Uch Sokhan could not be reached for comment. But his son-in-law, Tuy Sambath, said by telephone Wednesday that he had bought the land in April and denied that it belonged to Hun Sen Angtrei High School.
"My father-in-law is not the person who sold the land to me," he said, adding that the land, divided into six 20-by-30-meter parcels, had ranged in price from $550 to $950 per parcel and cost a total of $5,000.
Tuy Sambath said he had bought the land from other teachers and villagers whom he would not name.
"I have clear documents from local authorities to clarify my ownership of the land," he said, adding that he would sue the complaining teachers.
Chrunh Sem and several other teachers, who declined to be named, said the land was school property.
"Although the school didn't build on the land, it had been used as [communal] farmland since 1983 to collect harvests to support teachers at the high school," Chrunh Sem said.
Six teachers from Hun Sen Angtrei High School in Samraong district's Lumchong commune say that in September they learned that Uch Sokhan had sold 2.5 hectares of the school's land to his son-in-law, according to teacher Chrunh Sem, a group representative alleged.
"Generally, whenever there are complaints we will conduct an investigation," said Mak Vann, secretary of state at the Education Ministry, adding that he met with six teachers for over an hour at the ministry Wednesday morning to discuss the matter.
Teachers only learned the parcel of land had been sold after an inter-ministerial committee, which included officials from the Land Management Ministry, arrived to survey the land, Chrunh Sem said.
"We just asked for the Education Ministry's intervention to get the land back because the deputy schoolmaster should not take school land as his own and sell it to put money in his pockets," he said.
Uch Sokhan could not be reached for comment. But his son-in-law, Tuy Sambath, said by telephone Wednesday that he had bought the land in April and denied that it belonged to Hun Sen Angtrei High School.
"My father-in-law is not the person who sold the land to me," he said, adding that the land, divided into six 20-by-30-meter parcels, had ranged in price from $550 to $950 per parcel and cost a total of $5,000.
Tuy Sambath said he had bought the land from other teachers and villagers whom he would not name.
"I have clear documents from local authorities to clarify my ownership of the land," he said, adding that he would sue the complaining teachers.
Chrunh Sem and several other teachers, who declined to be named, said the land was school property.
"Although the school didn't build on the land, it had been used as [communal] farmland since 1983 to collect harvests to support teachers at the high school," Chrunh Sem said.
No comments:
Post a Comment