19 charged in fisheries building sale scam

Friday, 26 September 2008
Written by Chrann Chamroeun
The Phnom Penh Post

PHNOM Penh Municipal Court has charged 19 people for using forged documents in an attempt to sell the government's Fisheries Administration offices on Norodom Boulevard, court officials said Thursday.

"Seventeen suspects were charged with using forged public documents. The additional two, who are believed to be the masterminds of the fraud plot [and include] RCAF Lieutenant-Colonel Saphan Dara ... were charged with forging documents," said deputy prosecutor Kry Sok Y.

Investigating Judge Chan Madyna is expected to rule soon on whether the suspects will be detained pending trial, but could not be reached for comment Thursday.

National Police Commissioner Mok Chito told the Post that "it might be too late for the court to release a warrant to detain [the suspects]," but he was confident the court would work on the case "in a careful way".

Sok Sam Oeun, director of the Cambodian Defenders Project, said the suspects could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Yong Kim Eng, president of the People's Centre for Development & Peace, said that the attempted fraud was a sign of wider problems facing the country.

"Land speculation is a big concern.... Public property belongs to the people, not to individuals," he said.

Vietnamese crossing the border to illegally cut trees in Ratanakiri?

15 June 2008
By Ratha Visal
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The people’s community for the protection of natural resources in Lom village, O’Yadao district, Ratanakiri province, claimed that a car and saws belonging to Vietnamese people who crossed the border and entered Cambodia to illegally cut down trees, were confiscated, but they were immediately released after the Cambodian villagers were threatened by the border army post chief who intervened and forced the villagers to receive money from the Vietnamese in exchange for their release.

An anonymous villager from the people’s community explained the incident: “The border army post chief threatened the villagers, saying that we don’t have the rights to make any arrest, he said that he wanted to shoot us. He told us to release them (the Vietnamese) back because they agree to offer 2 million riels ($500)”

A report from a Pak Nhay commune councilor indicated that the above incident took place on 13 June 2008, at the community O’ Tang development forest, located about 10 kilometers from the border, in Lom village. 16 members of the people’s community were patrolling their area when they encountered a group of Vietnamese people who were cutting down 30 to 40 trees, and they were trimming the wood to transport them out of the forest, but the villagers were able to arrest them and confiscated their saws. The villagers then reported the case to the commune authority, and Sok Som On, the border army post chief, intervened, forcing the villagers to release the Vietnamese and their equipments in exchange for 2 million riels ($500).

RFA could not reach Sok Som On because he is allegedly located in an isolated area.

Nevertheless, Ly Sovannara, the commander of the border army indicated that: “When I asked, they said that they (the Vietnamese) needed wood post to grow pepper trees in Vietnam. They then contacted the village chief, the village chief then cut woods in his farm, he had some large tree trunks to provide, and he told the border post to come and transport them over, but he did not inform the chief of the people’s community.”

Hor Ang, the deputy police chief for the province of Ratanakiri, said that illegal actions along the borders are under the watch of the border defense army, he also indicated that there are collusions (with the border defense army) allowing the illegal wood logging: “When the villagers arrest them (the Vietnamese), they have to report to their authority. When the authority took this kind of action, it’s wrong, the villagers should provide this information and seek for measures from the police authority.”

In May, Lom villagers reported that they confiscated two tractor loads of logs from Vietnamese people also, but during that time, the Vietnamese agreed to surrender the wood to the community, and they told the villagers that they already paid their bribe to the border post officers (to cut the wood).

These logs are still kept by the villagers as proof of this illegal action.

Vong Somethy, the director of the forestry administration, declined to provide comments to RFA on Sunday, claiming that he was too busy.