Corruption, corruption and more corruption: UN Peter Taksoe-Jensen's meeting with Sok An for talks over anti-corruption measures at the KRT

Peter Taksoe-Jensen (L), U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, shakes hands with Sok An, Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister, during a meeting in Phnom Penh February 23, 2009. Taksoe-Jensen is in Cambodia for talks over anti-corruption measures at the Khmer Rouge tribunal between a top U.N. legal official and a member of Cambodia's government amid fears of bankruptcy on the Cambodian side of the court, according to local news reports. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Peter Taksoe-Jensen (2nd L), U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, listens as Sok An (R), Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister, talks during a meeting in Phnom Penh February 23, 2009. Taksoe-Jensen is in Cambodia for talks over anti-corruption measures at the Khmer Rouge tribunal between a top U.N. legal official and a member of Cambodia's government amid fears of bankruptcy on the Cambodian side of the court, according to local news reports. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Peter Taksoe-Jensen (front L), U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, listens as Sok An (R), Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister, talks during a meeting in Phnom Penh February 23, 2009. Taksoe-Jensen is in Cambodia for talks over anti-corruption measures at the Khmer Rouge tribunal between a top U.N. legal official and a member of Cambodia's government amid fears of bankruptcy on the Cambodian side of the court, according to local news reports. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Plans Tentative for Renewed Tribunal Talks

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
27 November 2008

Click here to listen to the Khmer audio program

A senior UN official said Wednesday he is planning to hold Khmer Rouge tribunal talks with Council Minister Sok An early in December.

“We are hoping to be able to have a meeting with Cambodia in the first week of December,” UN Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Peter Taksoe-Jensen told VOA Khmer. “We haven’t nailed down the exact meeting time, but it looks as if we will be able to find time to meet and discuss cooperation between the UN and Cambodia on the tribunal.”

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said Wednesday there was so far no schedule for a meeting and referred questions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Officials at the ministry were not immediately available for comment.

A visit by Taksoe-Jensen, who is an assistant to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would coincide with the tribunal’s struggle with corruption allegations and donor confidence, as well as preparations for the courts’ first-ever trial, of prison chief Duch, early next year.

Cambodian tribunal officials have denied the allegations.

Talks would show the UN’s continued attachment to the courts’ credibility and effectively, said James Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative, the tribunal monitor that first pointed out allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

“Reports of corruption must be treated seriously, addressed properly, and acted on immediately if the [tribunal’s] trials are to be seen as fair and credible,” Goldston said.

Staff who initially reported corruption, on the Cambodian side of the courts, should meanwhile be protected against reprisals, he said.

UN legal chief to travel to Cambodia for talks

Nov 18, 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - UN Assistant Secretary-General Peter Taksoe-Jensen will travel to Cambodia this week to discuss the country's troubled Khmer Rogue tribunal with Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, national media reported on Tuesday.

Taksoe-Jensen requested the meeting amid ongoing allegations of corruption on the Cambodian side of the UN-backed court, the Phnom Penh Post reported.

The tribunal was established in 2006 after a decade of negotiations between the UN and the Cambodian government and will put on trial five former leaders of the genocidal Khmer Rogue regime.

The first trial is due to begin in early 2009.