New Angkor Wat 'scam'

Friday, 08 July 2011
Tom Brennan and Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

AN advisor to Senate President Chea Sim is allegedly raising money to build a US$5.53 billion Angkor Wat-style temple in Svay Rieng province, officials said yesterday. However, a number of people claim the project is a fraud.

Chhoem Mono acts as both an advisor to Chea Sim and president of the Community Buddhist Supporting for Cambodia Organisation, an NGO seeking financial support from “various international donors” to build the temple, said CBSCO Deputy President Chan Sokeath.

He claimed his organisation was approved by the Ministry of Interior in 2003 and planned to build 13 temples in the model of Angkor Wat.

The temples will be built from “cement and brick, not from the original stone such as that from an ancient temple”, he said, though construction has not yet started on the project.

Fund for Angkor Wat replica [by Chea Xim's advisor] bogus, report says [-If it's good to be true, it probably is]

Jul 8, 2011
DPA

Phnom Penh - A Cambodian official claiming to raise money for a multibillion-dollar replica of Angkor Wat has been basing his campaign on dubious documentation, a newspaper said Friday.

Chhoem Mono, an adviser to Senate President Chea Sim, has been seeking support to build replicas of 13 of the temples in the 12th-century Angkor complex at a cost of 5.53 billion dollars, the Phnom Penh Post reported.

Questions have arisen in connection with some of the documents used in the campaign by his organization, the Community Buddhist Supporting for Cambodia Organisation.

The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, whose seal appears on several documents, was quoted as saying it has never heard of the organization.

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