Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Small Fishes

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Newspaper name ‘confusing’

Journalist Ros Sokhet (Phnom Penh Post)

Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Mom Kunthear
The Phnom Penh Post

The president of Cambodia’s Anti-Corruption Unit has opposed a freelance journalist’s bid to call his newspaper Anti-Corruption News because he thinks people will associate it with the ACU.

In a letter to Information Minister Khieu Kanharith dated February 17 and obtained by the Post yesterday, Om Yentieng asks that a media licence application by freelance journalist Ros Sokhet be rejected.

“I want [Khieu Kanharith] to intervene and make Ros Sokhet choose another name for his newspaper to avoid confusion,” Om Yentieng said.

“There are many other names in our Khmer language that Ros Sokhet can use for his newspaper that are useful for his ideal.”

Cambodia makes efforts to crack down on corruption

February 8, 2012
ABC Radio Australia

A leader of Cambodia's Anti-Corruption Unit says it's investigating more than 1,000 officials implicated in the drug racket of Moek Dara, former secretary-general of the anti-drug authority in Cambodia.

Last month the drug kingpin was sentenced to life in prison and fined $US300,000 for taking bribes in exchange for releasing dealers from prison and pocketing drugs from raids.

According to the unit's deputy president, Sean Borath, it's a major achievement of the Government's Anti-Corruption Unit.

Anti-corruption efforts, as well as human rights, were topics of a series of lectures given in Cambodia by the Chancellor of New South Wales' Southern Cross University, John Dowd.

Presenter: Liam Cochrane

Speaker: John Dowd, Chancellor of New South Wales' Southern Cross University and Australian chairman of the International Commission of Jurists

Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

On Hun Xen's wealth declaration - By Anonymous

Cambodian PM: I only make $1,150 per month [... and my nose is growing by the minute]

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen holds up a document detailing his personal assets Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) office in Phnom Penh on April 1, 2011. Sen urged other officials to follow his lead in a bid to tackle rampant graft. (TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images)

Law forces bureaucrats in notoriously corrupt Cambodia to declare income. Will they tell the truth?

April 6, 2011

Patrick Winn

Global Post

Cambodia's Prime Minister makes less than a Burger King cashier.

So he says, at least. Here's Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rogue cadet-turned-political gamesman holding a certificate that details his income. Like all Cambodian politicians and bureaucrats, he's now required by law to divulge his earnings every two years.

He only makes $1,150 per month, his official salary.

Does anyone believe this?

Not really.

Cambodia's government is one of the world's most corrupt, according to Transparency International, which puts the country in the same league as Afghanistan and Sierra Leone. Half of all Cambodians, their survey says, paid a bribe in the last 12 months.

Kanit-sas - Roub-mon Decho - "Math with Decho's formula": Poem in Khmer by B. Boy

Originally posted at: http://bboy-everythingkhmer.blogspot.com

Hun Sen's ACU - Khmer Poem by Khlem Chan

Cambodian PM declares assets in anti-graft push [-It just so happens to be April Fool Day!]

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen holds up a document detailing his personal assets Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) office in Phnom Penh. -- PHOTO: AFP

Apr 1, 2011
AFP

PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIAN Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday declared his personal assets to the country's new anti-corruption unit and urged officials to follow his lead in a bid to tackle rampant graft.

'Today, I have fulfilled my obligation under the anti-corruption law,' the premier said as he personally delivered his documents to the unit's headquarters in the capital Phnom Penh.

Although the asset declaration is confidential, Hun Sen told reporters he earned a monthly salary of 4,600,000 riel (S$1,450).

He also encouraged senior government and military officials to follow his example ahead of a deadline next week. 'Don't be hesitant or afraid,' he said.

Sinatoons No. 6: The Cleaning

Cartoon by V. Sina

Cambodian officials told to declare assets [-"Secret asset declaration means no asset declaration": Yim Sovann]

Wednesday, January 05, 2011
AFP

PHNOM PENH — Cambodia has ordered more than 100,000 government officials to declare their personal assets starting from this month in a bid to fight rampant corruption, an official said Wednesday.

Senior officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, must make confidential declarations of property, vehicles, business interests and other assets, said Keo Remy, spokesman for the government's National Council for Anti-Corruption.

"It is historic for our country," he told AFP.

Keo Remy said the officials would be required to report their assets to the country's newly established Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), but the details would not be made public.

"The asset declaration by the officials will be done in secret," he said.

"We have to safeguard each official's physical and mental safety, and also the country's political stability in particular."

The deadline for the asset declaration had not been set, he said.

Yim Sovann, the spokesman for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, slammed the process as pointless.

"Secret asset declaration means no asset declaration," he said.

"So we don't support this because it is useless," Yim Sovann added.

The move followed parliamentary approval of a long-awaited anti-corruption law last year that could see officials jailed for up to 15 years if convicted of accepting bribes.

Cambodia was ranked 154th worst out of 178 countries on anti-graft organisation Transparency International's most recent corruption perception index.

It was also ranked the second most corrupt southeast Asian nation after Indonesia in an annual poll by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy last year.

Cambodian officials begin asset declaration programme [-but money in the bank exempt from declaration!]

Jan 3, 2011
DPA

Phnom Penh - The Cambodian government kicked off an ambitious asset declaration programme for public officials on Monday in an effort to battle the country's endemic graft.

From January to March, roughly 100,000 officials including the prime minister will be required for the first time to declare assets including property, vehicles and business interests, a process overseen by the country's newly established Anticorruption Unit.

'Every level of government has to report directly to the Anticorruption Unit,' government spokesman Phay Siphan said. 'Their job is to prepare a system of transparency.'

The declaration process has drawn criticism because officials do not have to disclose bank account balances or the assets of spouses and family members. Spouses, in particular, often nominally hold property and other assets acquired in dubious circumstances by government officials, activist groups say.

Sek Borisoth, director of the good governance nongovernmental organisation PACT Cambodia, said staff at the Anticorruption Unit (ACU) would likely be unable to scrutinise closely the many thousands of declarations they will have to process in the coming weeks.

'It's going to be hard, and the ACU also admitted that,' Sek Borisoth said. He added that the declaration process was a good start and could serve as a 'baseline' against which to compare future declarations.

The international corruption watchdog Transparency International identified Cambodia as one of the most corrupt nations in the world last year, ranking the country 154th in its annual governance index. That put Cambodia on a par with countries such as Tajikistan and Guinea-Bissau, with only 15 other nations ranked as more corrupt.

In 2009, the US ambassador to Cambodia said the country loses perhaps 500 million dollars per year to corruption, equivalent to roughly a quarter of the national budget.

Wealth declaration for government officials [-but money in the bank need not be declared (sic!)]

14 Dec. 2010
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Soch

As of Monday, the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has started to register government officials who must declare their wealth between 01 January and 28 February 2011. Yesterday, Keo Remy, ACU spokesman, said: “We will start work on Monday to gather the names and the positions of government officials and we hope that the declaration of wealth, which was never conducted before, will take place.” Government officials are obligated to declare their wealth, including interest, professional wealth, personal wealth and vehicles, but they do not need to declare their money in the bank. The ACU estimates that about 100,000 government officials will be forced to declare their wealth before the date limit set on 28 Feb 2011.

Not all convinced by Cambodia's action on graft

By Prak Chan Thul

PHNOM PENH, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Cambodia has begun to enforce an anti-graft law that came into effect this year but some businessmen and analysts already spot loopholes that could undermine the legislation in one of Asia's most corrupt states.

Corruption is endemic in Cambodia. Watchdog Transparency International's 2010 list of most corrupt countries ranks Cambodia 154th out of 178 nations. Fighting it is something of a novelty, and expectations are modest in the near term.

"If they can enforce the law 70 percent, I'd be really happy," said Mong Reththy, chief executive of Mong Reththy Group of Companies, which has interests in agriculture and the ago-industrial sector.

A verdict in the first trial under the new law is due on Dec. 16. It involves a former Finance Ministry official who is charged with embezzling more than $600,000 by forging is pay cheques over a two-year period and squandering it all on gambling.

Kuy Dara, former acting bureau director of the Financial Industry Department, is the only person charged. He told the court he acted alone, but his attorney and a prosecutor among others doubt that was the case and believe he is protecting more senior officials.

The Anti-Corruption Institution held a seminar on Dec. 9 for hundreds of government members, state functionaries, police and army officials, explaining how civil servants would be obliged from Jan. 1 to declare their assets and debts.

Its head, Om Yentieng, assured the audience that civil servants' wives and children were not obliged to make any declaration; their cash in banks did not have to be declared, he said, adding his view that corruption was not a big problem.

Those are big loopholes, said San Chey, a fellow of the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific, a Manila-based advocacy group.

"When money in banks is not forced to be declared, big officials will just sell their assets and put their cash in banks," he said. "I am not confident in this body."

CHARGES OF TAX GRAFT

The Anti-Corruption Institution has said it had evidence to prove at least 40 Cambodian state tax officials had engaged in corrupt practices.

That investigation was opened after claims by 11 non-governmental organisations that officials were pocketing about $1 million a year in road tax payments.

But none of the officials seems likely to be prosecuted.

Instead, the Finance Ministry will be left to decide whether to fire, demote or simply issue a warning to offenders.

Despite its shortcomings, the law has been cautiously welcomed by international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank, and by foreign investors such as Richard Stanger, managing director of Liberty Mining International Pty Ltd.

"It will assist with improving the perception that foreign investors have of the country," Stanger said. "It will assist foreign investors to make more informed decisions."

Peter Brimble, the ADB's chief economist in Cambodia, was also looking on the bright side.

"Corruption remains a critical factor for the business environment in Cambodia. According to the World Bank, corruption was the most important constraint faced by the private sector in late 2009," he told Reuters.

"The new anti-corruption law can play a key role in reducing levels of corruption, and is an important signal of the government's intention to improve the overall business climate."

(Editing by Alan Raybould and Jason Szep)

When will Om Yentieng's Anti-Corruption Group take care of major corruption cases?

Anti-Corruption Group Accuses Officials of Marriage Graft

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer 
Phnom Penh Thursday, 09 December 2010

“If I did not pay, I had no right to marry,” he said. “So I had to pay.”

A watchdog group that took tax collectors to task for overcharging on vehicle registration has now set its sights on marriage certification.

Administrators across the country charge as much as $20 for documents required for marriage, which should officially only cost less than $0.30, San Chey, a project coordinator for the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific, said Thursday.

Earlier this year, the Affiliated Network brought complaints against Finance Ministry tax collectors, leading to a recommendation by the newly formed Anti-Corruption Unit that offenders be demoted and administratively punished.

Speaking at a Phnom Penh gathering to mark International Anti-Corruption Day, San Chey said commune officials were overcharging people in direct contravention to a government subdecree on marriage.

In Cambodia, a person needs a letter to prove he or she is not already married and a letter stating they are permitted to marry. Once married, they receive a certificate. Officials are overcharging for the whole process, San Chey said.

“The people must pay between $10 and $20 to commune officials for marriage certification, while the official price is up to 1,200 riel for the marriage paperwork process,” San Chey said.

Chhoeun Chem, a resident of Phnom Penh's Meanchey district, Stung Meanchey commune, said he was charged $20 for the process just last month.

“If I did not pay, I had no right to marry,” he said. “So I had to pay.”

However, Kim Khem Mony, the Stung Meanchey official in charge of marriage certification, said his staff has never overcharged for the process.

“We charge only 1,200 riel, as stated in the subdecree,” he said. “But people always pay $20 to a broker or middleman to help them with their marriage licenses.”

San Chey advised people to get receipts from the authorities when they are fined or pay for public services. Public officials should not hesitate in providing one, he said.

“This can push for more transparency for income management and can reduce people's illegal payments to prevent a big part of corruption,” he said.

Graft Arrest ‘A Good Start’

International donors will provide U.S. $1.1 billion in aid to Cambodia this year, despite complaints of rampant corruption.

2010-12-03

Radio Free Asia

Cambodians say a new anti-corruption law needs better enforcement and more arrests should follow.

Cambodian non-governmental groups have welcomed the first arrest of a high-profile official on alleged bribery charges by the country’s new anti-corruption task force, but warned that the "big fish" should not be spared in the drive to root out graft in one of the world’s most crooked governments.

Om Yin Tieng, the head of the Anti-Corruption Unit, this week announced the Nov. 29 arrest of Top Chansereyvuth, the head prosecutor of Cambodia’s western Pursat province, on charges of accepting U.S. $8,000 in bribes from illegal loggers.

Top Chansereyvuth was also accused of extortion and illegal detention, along with his bodyguards Khun Sokna and Yu. A third accomplice, El Vanak, eluded authorities.

At the Dec. 1 press briefing, Om Yin Tieng vowed that his unit would continue to crack down on corruption in the country according to a new law enacted in March.

Mam Sitha, president of the Cambodian Independent Anti-Corruption Committee, a non-governmental group, said the arrest was a strong sign that the government plans to take action on graft.

“This action should be effective in the long term,” she added.

Am Sam Arth, an investigator with the local human rights organization LICADHO, called the arrest “a good start” that will lead to increased public confidence in the unit.

He added that the arrest also sends a message to other court officials across the country that corruption will not be tolerated.

“Court officials cannot just act arbitrarily without punishment. The Anti-Corruption Unit should investigate all officials, regardless of their seniority in the government, in order to provide fair treatment for all,” he said.

'Sending a message'

Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of local rights group Cambodian Defenders Project, also approved of the Anti-Corruption Unit’s action.

“We applaud the unit’s move, but not because of the arrest. We applaud the first implementation of the Anti-Corruption Law,” under which officials could be jailed for up to 15 years if convicted of accepting bribes, he said.

Most of the Cambodian public also hailed the move, saying the arrest will show corrupt officials that they cannot expect impunity.

Soeng Sen Karuna, 32, a resident of Pursat, said that when Top Chansereyvuth was brought to trial, villagers gathered at the court and welcomed the news that the prosecutor had been brought to justice.

He added that the task force should allow people who were abused by the prosecutor during his time at the Pursat provincial court to file complaints against him.

“The arrest will send a strong message to those corrupt officials. They will be afraid to take bribes or they will feel anxious about trying to do it,” he said.

Government connections

In March, Cambodia’s parliament approved an anti-corruption law that created an anti-corruption council and an anti-corruption unit to oversee investigations.

The council recently adopted a five-year plan to take on corruption that will require more than 100,000 state officials to declare their assets.

But critics argued that the new bodies would not be effective as they do not operate independently from the government and those overseeing them have poor track records.

Om Yen Tieng, nominated by Prime Minister Hun Sen as the head of the task force in June, was previously the president of the Cambodian Human Rights Committee.

At the time of his appointment to the head of the Anti-Corruption Unit, Yim Sovann, a spokesperson for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said “corruption will not decline" under Om Yin Tieng's watch.

Global Witness, an NGO that monitors government oversight, warned countries that provide aid to Cambodia that they should “not be fooled” by Cambodia’s anti-corruption initiative.

"This does not represent a break from the well-documented and entrenched patterns of corruption at the highest levels of Cambodia's government, and it should not be welcomed as such."

Anti-graft organization Transparency International ranked Cambodia 154th worst out of 178 countries in its most recent corruption perception index.

Political and Economic Risk Consultancy also ranked Cambodia second most corrupt in Southeast Asia after Indonesia earlier this year.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who spent three days in Cambodia at the end of October, called on Prime Minister Hun Sen to do more to make the country’s corruption law a more effective tool in preventing the abuse of power.

Reported by Kim Peou for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Sarada Taing and Yun Samean. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Corruption question to Om Yentieng from Boeung Chhouk market sellers in Battambang

30 Tax Agents To Face Corruption Charges

A watchdog organization says the Ministry of Economy and Finance's tax collectors are bilking the country out of at least a million dollars a year by overcharging for annual vehicle stickers.

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer

Phnom Penh Wednesday, 01 December 2010

“Next year, we want to see those guilty of corruption sentenced to prison.”

Thirty tax officials will face the loss of their jobs, after an investigation by the new Anti-Corruption Unit.

Om Yentieng, a senior government advisor and head of the ACU, told reporters Wednesday the 30 agents from the Ministry of Finance’s taxation unit had overcharged vehicle owners as much as $1.20 per annual registration tag.

The ACU was acting on complaints filed by an NGO on behalf of more than 200 citizens who said they were routinely overcharged for vehicle registration.

The complaints were the first real test of the ACU, which was formed as part of a recently passed anti-corruption law. Some 2,700 people from 14 provinces contributed corruption complaints earlier this year.

“I will send all the evidence concerning the 30 agents to the Ministry of Economy and Finance and its general department of taxation tomorrow morning to make administrative punishments,” Om Yentieng said. “I believe that anyone who has made a serious mistake will be sacked from his or her job.”

Other administrative punishments can include the loss of promotion or suspension.

The ACU has compiled a 14-page brief, provided to reporters, that identifies the alleged corrupt agents, provides photo IDS and lists the sites were they allegedly bilked motorists of their money.

According to the brief, vehicle owners were overcharged for annual registration on “pretexts,” such as the cost of forms themselves, of filling out the forms or even for the purchase of drinking water.

San Chey, a project coordinator for the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific, which gathered the complaints, said administrative punishment was acceptable for now.

“Next year, we want to see those guilty of corruption sentenced to prison,” he said. “But for this year, administrative punishment is an acceptable act for civil society.”

Om John, deputy chief of the Ministry of Finance’s tax department, said agents would not escape punishment.

Anti-Corruption Unit Considers 90 Tax Complaints

Om Yentieng, the director of the Anti-Corrupiton Unit. (Photo: VOA Khmer)

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Friday, 08 October 2010

“The tax agents overcharged for the annual vehicle tax with invoices and without. We are putting the complaints on the table to prepare a procedural process.”

The Anti-Corrupiton Unit is preparing to examine some 90 complaints of graft by tax officials from the Ministry of Finance.

Ninety complaints from 2,700 people across 14 provinces were filed with the unit last month, after a watchdog group claimed people were paying too much for annual vehicle tags.

Om Yentieng, the director of the ACU, told a roundtable of media representatives on Tuesday the unit had prepared all of the complaints for formal processing.

“The tax agents overcharged for the annual vehicle tax with invoices and without,” he said. “We are putting the complaints on the table to prepare a procedural process.”

Om John, deputy chief of the Ministry of Economy and Finance's tax department, said the department too is studying the complaints for possible investigation.

San Chey, a project coordinator for the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability In East Asia and the Pacific, which helped collect and file the complaints, welcomed the news.

“This unit is not ignoring the complaints from people” he said. “I strongly encourage the Anti-Corruption Unit in helping an additional investigation and taking action to eliminate corruption in the collection of annual vehicle taxes.”

San Chey said he had not included the names of tax officials in the complaints but would provide them if requested.

Government Unveils Five-Year Anti-Corruption Plan [-All talk no action?]

VOA Khmer
Washington, D.C Wednesday, 06 October 2010

“We're using a zero-tolerance principle in our fight against corruption. This means that there are no exceptions, no matter how big or small a case is.”

The government says it now has a five-year strategy to fight corruption that will allow new agencies to punish perpetrators of graft.

The strategy, released by the National Council for Anti-Corruption last week, includes provisions for prevention and punishment, as well as a plan to raise awareness.

The new policy is the result of an anti-corruption law that was passed earlier this year.

“We're using a zero-tolerance principle in our fight against corruption,” said Keo Remy, a spokesman for the anti-corruption body. “This means that there are no exceptions, no matter how big or small a case is.”

Keo Remy said the strategy is built around integrity, accountability and confidentiality, which will encourage public participation.

The in the near-term, officials will began to educate people about the anti-corruption law and the penal code, he said. By early next year, government officials, lawmakers, judges and heads of non-governmental organizations—even security guards for the anti-corruption council—will have to declare their assets.

“Our main goal in doing all of these is to boost our economic growth,” he said. “We want to build confidence among big investors and promote the living conditions of the people.”

Anti-corruption officials have been “carefully recruited,” he said, and can be punished for a range of ethical offenses, including having meals with alleged offenders. Infractions are punishable with up to five years imprisonment, for leaking information to informants.

Anti-graft unit prepares first public report

Monday, 27 September 2010
Vong Sokheng and Kim Yuthana .
The Phnom Penh Post

THE Kingdom’s newly formed Anticorruption Unit is scheduled to release the first report on its progress in combating corruption later this week, after holding meetings today with civil representatives to discuss graft complaints submitted by the public.

Keo Remy, newly appointed spokesman of the National Anticorruption Commission said that the ACU’s president, Om Yentieng, would meet with NGO workers today.

“I don’t know about the topics of discussion, but I think that they may potentially discuss the work that the ACU has done so far, such as a mechanisms for safeguarding individuals who to file a complaint to the ACU,” he said.

He added that following the meeting, the ACU planned to release its first public report, if the NAC is able to finalise the ACU’s most recent internal progress reports. “I think that if the report is approved by the NAC, we will be able to release it on September 28 with the participation of the media,” Keo Remy said.

The Civic Alliance for Social Accountability, a coalition of 11 nongovernmental organisations, confirmed that it planned to meet with graft officials today to submit a compilation of corruption complaints against 80 officials accused of levying illegal road taxes.

San Chey, the Cambodia-based network fellow of the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and Pacific, a regional umbrella group, said that at least 10 members of the coalition would attend the talks in order to seek its full cooperation in fighting against corruption in Cambodia.

“We will discuss with the head of the ACU about the possibility of being a partner of the ACU and submit corruption complaints related to road tax collection filed by Cambodian people in 14 provinces,” he said.

San Chey said that road-tax collection agents had forced people to pay as much as US$1 million in illegal road taxes every year. “We have to be a partner of the ACU in order to make sure that our work will encourage government’s tax agency to change their behaviour,” he said.