Rumours that Hun Sen received $80 million in bribe to sack Gen. Ke Kimyan

Gen. Ke Kimyan (R) being briefed by his officers.

Khmer Nation News
24th February, 2009
Reported in English by Khmerization

Gen. Ke Kimyan was sacked because of an $80 million bribe to Prime Minister Hun Sen, reports the Khmer Nation News.

According to the 24th February 2009 edition of Khmer Nation News, which had quoted unofficial sources, a group of powerful Cambodian People’s Party officials and businessmen were not happy with Gen. Ke Kimyan because he had used his position as Commander-in-Chief of the army to protect many plots of high-priced lands linked to those officials and businessmen who are very close to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The paper then said that, those angry officials and businessmen had gathered and compiled all the documents related to Gen. Ke Kimyan’s business dealings and presented them to Mr. Hun Sen. They are angry that Gen. Ke Kimyan had gotten in the way of their businesses.

The paper added that, after all the relevant documents were gathered and compiled, they then raised $80 million and then bribed Mr. Hun Sen to sack Gen. Ke Kimyan.

Khmerization has not been able to confirm The Khmer Nation’s claims nor has Khmerization any evidence to prove that Prime Minister Hun Sen had indeed been bribed with $80 million.

Gen. Ke Kimyan was sacked as Commander-in-Chief of the army on 22nd January, 2009. According to the leaked minute of the meeting of the Council of Ministers dated 23rd January, 2009, Gen. Ke Kimyan was sacked because of a military reform and because of his impropriety linked to illegal land deals. The minute of the meeting also recommended that Gen. Ke Kimyan be investigated by the authority and the court.

Mr. Hun Sen’s attempt to sack Mr. Sar Kheng forced King Sihamoni to depart for Beijing

Khmer Nation News
5th February, 2009
Reported in English by Khmerization

King Sihamoni’s departure for Beijing recently has been to avoid any pressures from Mr. Hun Sen to sign a royal decree to sack Interior Minister Sar Kheng, the brother-in-law of the President of the Cambodian People‘s Party (CPP), Mr. Chea Sim, who is an arch-rival of Mr. Hun Sen, reported Khmer Nation News.

The Khmer Nation News reported that since the sacking of Gen. Ke Kimyan, a Chea Sim loyalist, on the 22nd of January 2009, there have been reports of the sackings of many Chea Sim’s loyalists. There have been reports and rumours that Mr. Hun Sen plans to further sack or demote many more of Mr. Chea Sim’s loyalists from position of powers within the military, the police as well as from the government.

The paper reported that Mr. Hun Sen’s sackings of Gen. Ke Kimyan and many of Chea Sim’s loyalists seem to have caused frictions and rifts within the ruling CPP. There have been criticism that the sackings was an attempt by Mr. Hun Sen to weaken Mr. Chea Sim’s faction, while at the same time strengthening his own power grip in the government as well as in the CPP.

The belief that Mr. Hun Sen’s sackings of Mr. Chea Sim’s loyalist for the purpose of consolidating his powers has been reinforced when a unit of 507 bodyguards of Mr. Chea Sim has been disbanded and ordered to return to barracks, reported the paper.

The reports said that Mr. Hun Sen’s subsequent actions have fuelled tensions between himself and Mr. Chea Sim. There are rumours that on 5th February 2009, the tensions heightened to a shouting match between the two and Mr. Chea Sim resigned in anger. The rumours said that, after Mr. Chea Sim resigned, Mr. Hun Sen became the CPP’s president, Mr. Sar Kheng became the CPP’s vice-president and Mr. Sok An became its secretary-general. The rumours have been denied by Mr. Hun Sen and his camp.

Political observers said that King Sihamoni’s departure for Beijing on 4th February was linked to the heightened tensions between Mr. Hun Sen and Mr. Chea Sim, not for medical check-up as officially declared. The rumours said that the King left Cambodia because he doesn’t want to be seen as taking side, because in the past Mr. Hun Sen has requested him to sign many royal decrees to sack Mr. Chea Sim’s loyalists, report the Khmer Nation News.

The Khmer Nation News further reported that, according to unofficial sources, Mr. Hun Sen was planning to sack Mr. Sar Kheng as Deputy Prime Minister and as Minister of Interior by a royal decree.

According to the same sources, the King was very worried and didn’t want to be seen as taking sides between Mr. Chea Sim and Mr. Hun Sen as he is a constitutional monarch who must be neutral. So, to escape from being pressured to sign a royal decree to sack Mr. Sar Kheng, King Sihamoni has opted to leave the country, the Khmer Nation News reported.

Cheat Khmer: Birth of a new newspaper

Click here to read the newspaper online

13 Jan 2009
By Ung Chamroeun
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

“Cheat Khmer” or “The Khmer Nation,” a newspaper which claims to be politically independent, was first put on sale on Monday 12 January.

Sun Chanthy, the editor of the Cheat Khmer newspaper, indicated that “this newspaper is not aligned with any political party. We have decided to follow the journalistic code of ethics. We are mainly interested in political and economic issues in the kingdom. But, we are also reporting cases of human rights violations, of corruption, and issues that represent threat to social stability.”

Also according to Sun Chanthy, the newspaper will be distributed in 18 provinces and it also maintains a free website at: www.kn-news.blogspot.com. The newspaper is published only in Khmer.

Cheat Khmer is on sale for 1,000 riels ($0.25), and it consists of 8 pages, two of which are in color (front and last pages).

Right from the start, the content of the newspaper’s articles appear to be close to the Sam Rainsy Party. Furthermore, the name of the newspaper reminds us about the name of Sam Rainsy’s former political party: The Khmer Nation.