By Lorraine de Foucher
Cambodge Soir
Unofficial Translation from French by Tola Ek
Click here to read Cambodge Soir's original article in French
"According to a survey, Judges would be the least reliable civil servants in the country, and the provincial courts would be the most corrupt institutions."The Transparency International NGO once again denounces the corruption in Cambodia by putting the justice system under the microscope.
Transparency International (TI), the NGO which fights corruption, recently published a report on the corruption of the justice system in the world. Cambodia took in a very bad score. In 2006, TI’s yearly corruption index placed Cambodia as one of the most corrupt countries in Asia and in the world, giving the country a rank of 151 out of 163 countries evaluated.
Corruption in judicial systems and economic growth
The ranking is based on a definition set by TI, according to which, corruption is operationally defined as “the misuse of entrusted power for private gain” and the corruption in judicial systems is defined as “all unreasonable influence on the impartiality of the judicial process, by any player in the judicial system.” TI also insists on the correlation which exists between the level of corruption in the judicial system and the economic growth, “given the fact that the assurance to obtain the execution of a contract or the resolution of a disagreement is essential for investors and constitutes the development condition for businesses.” For 2007, the yearly index has not been published yet, but given TI’s pessimistic outlook on the Cambodian justice system, the kingdom is far from being on track when it comes to transparency.
225 Judges for 14 million people
Cambodia is systematically cited in all chapters touching the problems of inefficiency and objectivity of the justice system. “According to a survey, Judges would be the least reliable civil servants in the country, and the provincial courts would be the most corrupt institutions,” TI’s report noted. The report also reminds about the importance of the population confidence in their institutions. The lack of resources at the Ministry of Justice would be the major cause and consequence of corruption: “There are 225 Judges in the country, i.e. a ratio of 17 Judges per 1 million of people, and less than 300 active lawyers.” Clearly, the system weighs heavily against the people, TI’s analysis indicated, because “even trials for the most complicated cases last rarely more than 10 minutes, and almost 50% of the cases come up to court without the presence of a defense lawyer.”
The lack of transparency in the courts would prevent the corruption acts from being detected and punished: “judicial decisions are not documented, rarely do the Judges explain their reasoning or do they notify the court decision, even though this is required by the law in Cambodia.”
3 comments:
Any Australian taxpayers reading this???
Judicial institutions are the most corrupt in Cambodia. There is no illusion. They know no shame but luxury cars. We can see bad buildings (courts) surrounded by lexus, landcruisers and others.
They have no shame to be rich in a poor country, to be oppresive with their own countrymen (most of them poor and innocent). They manage naturally to be hated by innocent peoples. I loath judges and lawyer (as I know that there are good lawyers but they are minority and dare say nothing or have little impact on everyday life of Cambdodia).
They are among the insolent in Cambodia with medical doctors.
They know no moral but money. They think themselves they are the most intelligent, the most successful and happiest to see their countrymen cheated by them. They countribute the collapse of the regime and sadly the country.
They manage to be hated by peoples in the rural areas. They want, as I suppose, the extreme policy made by Pol Pot. That is to eliminate them all (physically).
Nak Angkor
Phnom Penh
Here's what I have been saying all
along:
"The lack of resources at the Ministry of Justice would be the major cause and consequence of corruption: ..."
What we need is to reform
opposition MPs salaries and use
it to relieves our MOJ Ministry
of Justice.
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