Phnom Penh (Cambodia) – 05 February 2009. A dozen of military police were deployed in front of the Mobitel headquarters located on Sihanouk Boulevard (Photo: John Vink/Magnum)05 Feb 2009
By Duong Sokha
Ka-set (Our apologies to K-7 for the previous source attribution to CSH)
Unofficial translation by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French
Click here to read the article in Khmer
On Thursday 05 February, customers of the Mobitel telephone company were surprised by a sudden interruption of its services at the company headquarters in Phnom Penh. In fact, a dozen of military police officers were deployed in front of its offices, preventing all employees from entering the premises. It was impossible to obtain any information on the spot. The company customer service phone numbers (812 and 012 812 812) did not work all morning long.
Rumors started to spread in which the company would owe debts toward the state, or that there would be an internal conflict within the company management.
In the middle of the afternoon, a company employee who was in charge of providing answers to customers explained over the phone that the morning incident was caused by “the visit of VIPs who came to observe the working of the company” … when no employees were actually at work. “That’s why we had to suspend all our activities…”
Refusing to reveal the identity of these VIPs, she added that “the police deployment was aimed at protecting the security of these people, the same way high-ranking government officials are protected by cars blaring sirens used to open their convoy.” She indicated that rumors swirling about the incident were baseless while adding that the company resumed normal service on the same day at 1PM.
Mobitel, the phone company which counts the largest customer base in Cambodia, belongs to Oknha Kith Meng, the powerful president of the Royal Group (which includes Mobitel and the ANZ Royal bank in which it is a partner), and also president of the Phnom Penh business chamber. He is considered as a man close to prime minister Hun Sen. He could not be reached on Thursday.
Rumors started to spread in which the company would owe debts toward the state, or that there would be an internal conflict within the company management.
In the middle of the afternoon, a company employee who was in charge of providing answers to customers explained over the phone that the morning incident was caused by “the visit of VIPs who came to observe the working of the company” … when no employees were actually at work. “That’s why we had to suspend all our activities…”
Refusing to reveal the identity of these VIPs, she added that “the police deployment was aimed at protecting the security of these people, the same way high-ranking government officials are protected by cars blaring sirens used to open their convoy.” She indicated that rumors swirling about the incident were baseless while adding that the company resumed normal service on the same day at 1PM.
Mobitel, the phone company which counts the largest customer base in Cambodia, belongs to Oknha Kith Meng, the powerful president of the Royal Group (which includes Mobitel and the ANZ Royal bank in which it is a partner), and also president of the Phnom Penh business chamber. He is considered as a man close to prime minister Hun Sen. He could not be reached on Thursday.
