PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - International donors have been withholding payments to Cambodia's Khmer Rouge "Killing Fields" tribunal because of concerns about corruption, officials said on Tuesday.
Helen Jarvis, an Australian working on the Cambodian side of the joint Cambodian-U.N. tribunal, said 250 Cambodians had not been paid a total of $700,000 (370,000 pounds) since June,threatening the future of the long-awaited court, which is running over time and budget.
"It is becoming increasingly difficult for Cambodian staff," Jarvis told Reuters.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which has been managing donor funding for the trial, said it had decided to freeze payments last week following a renewed series of allegations of kickbacks involving local staff.
"UNDP is taking the matter very seriously. We have met with donors to keep them informed," UNDP official Aimee Brown said.
The tribunal is in the middle of trying to secure an extra $87 million in funding to supplement the initial budget of $56million, and allow the proceedings to run until 2010.
Five top Khmer Rouge cadres have been charged with war crimes or crimes against humanity for their part in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people under Pol Pot's four-year reign of terror.
(Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Ed Cropley and Paul Tait)
Helen Jarvis, an Australian working on the Cambodian side of the joint Cambodian-U.N. tribunal, said 250 Cambodians had not been paid a total of $700,000 (370,000 pounds) since June,threatening the future of the long-awaited court, which is running over time and budget.
"It is becoming increasingly difficult for Cambodian staff," Jarvis told Reuters.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which has been managing donor funding for the trial, said it had decided to freeze payments last week following a renewed series of allegations of kickbacks involving local staff.
"UNDP is taking the matter very seriously. We have met with donors to keep them informed," UNDP official Aimee Brown said.
The tribunal is in the middle of trying to secure an extra $87 million in funding to supplement the initial budget of $56million, and allow the proceedings to run until 2010.
Five top Khmer Rouge cadres have been charged with war crimes or crimes against humanity for their part in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people under Pol Pot's four-year reign of terror.
(Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Ed Cropley and Paul Tait)
2 comments:
Kickbacks is in full operation at the ECCC BUT WE MUST BE PAID FIRST. Please do not punish the victims. Cambodian staff are victimized to pay the kickbacks and then now we have not been paid our regular salary, how can we live?
An ECCC's staff
Pok rolouy ma pouch. kmas ke nas kgnom keut mak chea khmer.
From Srey Khmer
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