Official Charged in World Bank Scandal Out on Bail
By Pin Sisovann
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
The only government official charged over the multi-million-dollar World Bank corruption scandal has been released on bail, his lawyer said Sunday.
Mour Kimsan, a Rural Development Ministry project manager charged with embezzling over $800,000 from World Bank-funded projects, was released on bail Friday, lawyer Yin Wengka said.
Yin Wengka said his client was freed because the court decided there was insufficient evidence in the case, and because he was not a flight risk. He declined to say how much money was paid in bail.
In June, the World Bank informed the Cambodian government that it had found evidence of systematic corruption in 43 Bank-funded contracts across six ministries. Mour Kimsan, a Funcinpec official, was the only official arrested the following month.
Yin Wengka said the World Bank had approved all expenditures, so if the embezzling charge against his client were true, World Bank officials should also be implicated.
Government spokesman and Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said Mour Kimsan was released in accordance with legal procedures.
He also said that the World Bank had not cooperated adequately with the government in its investigation of the corruption scandal.
World Bank spokesman Bou Saroeun could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Suon Chanthorn, the lawyer representing the government in the case against Mour Kimsan, said he was unaware of the release. Municipal Court officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Mour Kimsan, a Rural Development Ministry project manager charged with embezzling over $800,000 from World Bank-funded projects, was released on bail Friday, lawyer Yin Wengka said.
Yin Wengka said his client was freed because the court decided there was insufficient evidence in the case, and because he was not a flight risk. He declined to say how much money was paid in bail.
In June, the World Bank informed the Cambodian government that it had found evidence of systematic corruption in 43 Bank-funded contracts across six ministries. Mour Kimsan, a Funcinpec official, was the only official arrested the following month.
Yin Wengka said the World Bank had approved all expenditures, so if the embezzling charge against his client were true, World Bank officials should also be implicated.
Government spokesman and Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said Mour Kimsan was released in accordance with legal procedures.
He also said that the World Bank had not cooperated adequately with the government in its investigation of the corruption scandal.
World Bank spokesman Bou Saroeun could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Suon Chanthorn, the lawyer representing the government in the case against Mour Kimsan, said he was unaware of the release. Municipal Court officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.
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