SRP Lawmaker Ordered to Vacate His Land
By Prak Chan Thul and James Welsh
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
Siem Reap Provincial Court on Monday ordered SRP lawmaker Son Chhay to vacate his land in Siem Reap town and sell it to the Apsara Authority, officials said,
Government lawyer Pal Chan Dara, who represents Apsara, the government agency managing the Angkor monuments, said the court ordered Son Chhay to sell his 3.14 hectares of land to the state for $19,740 in total, or around $0.62 per square meter.
"The Apsara Authority has the land titles so we don't consider it as excellency Son Chhay’s land," Pol Chan Dara said.
"The government's Apsara Authority has controlled the land for a long time already," he added.
Son Chhay said he has two months to appeal the ruling, and plans to do so. When he bought the land in 1995, Son Chhay said, the chiefs of Slar Kran commune and Dang Don Pa village signed off on the sale documents.
Son Chhay said before the trial that he would only sell to Apsara if it paid market value for the land— which he said was around $100 per-square-meter—and if it proved the land would serve the public good. At $100 per square meter, the property would be worth a whopping $3.1 million.
Bou Bun Hang, the court's deputy prosecutor, declined to comment and presiding Judge Ieng Kimthol could not be contacted.
Bun Narith, director general of Apsara Authority, said that the land had always belonged to the government.
"The state didn’t sell it to anybody. It had been state land for a long time already," he said.
Bun Narith said he could not recall what Apsara would now do with the land.
Son Chhay said that he did not feel that the case against him was politically motivated, but that if he had belonged to Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling CPP, he would have won his case. "If I was a CPP member this would not be a problem for me," he said.
Government lawyer Pal Chan Dara, who represents Apsara, the government agency managing the Angkor monuments, said the court ordered Son Chhay to sell his 3.14 hectares of land to the state for $19,740 in total, or around $0.62 per square meter.
"The Apsara Authority has the land titles so we don't consider it as excellency Son Chhay’s land," Pol Chan Dara said.
"The government's Apsara Authority has controlled the land for a long time already," he added.
Son Chhay said he has two months to appeal the ruling, and plans to do so. When he bought the land in 1995, Son Chhay said, the chiefs of Slar Kran commune and Dang Don Pa village signed off on the sale documents.
Son Chhay said before the trial that he would only sell to Apsara if it paid market value for the land— which he said was around $100 per-square-meter—and if it proved the land would serve the public good. At $100 per square meter, the property would be worth a whopping $3.1 million.
Bou Bun Hang, the court's deputy prosecutor, declined to comment and presiding Judge Ieng Kimthol could not be contacted.
Bun Narith, director general of Apsara Authority, said that the land had always belonged to the government.
"The state didn’t sell it to anybody. It had been state land for a long time already," he said.
Bun Narith said he could not recall what Apsara would now do with the land.
Son Chhay said that he did not feel that the case against him was politically motivated, but that if he had belonged to Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling CPP, he would have won his case. "If I was a CPP member this would not be a problem for me," he said.
2 comments:
You must bow your head and join your hands to the Rogue Strongman like the Khmer Dog Chochous coming from aborad to ensure the safety of your property.
My heart go out to Mr. Son Chhay. Why bad thing happen to good people?
Mr. Son Chhay forgot thing, all the CPP and the Viet colonizers are untouched by any AH HUN SEN Vietcong slave law!
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