REAKSMEY KONGKEA

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea A real estate businessman was detained yesterday and charged by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for allegedly embezzling more than $120,000 from a former business partner and owner of a construction company in 2020. According to the court, the accused was identified as Praser Battari, 38, president of Battari Real Estate Co Ltd living in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district, Chraing Chamres II commune. The accused was charged with “Breach of Trust” under Articles 391 and 392 of the Criminal Code and faces 6 months to three years in prison if convicted. The accused was arrested on Wednesday by police from the penal department of the Ministry of Interior. He was sued by the victim, Mann Yusuf, the owner of a construction company. Penal Police Officer Major Keo Sothy said yesterday that on November 3, 2020, the accused signed a contract with Yusuf’s company, and hired Yusuf’s company to construct apartments on a project worth $1 million in Pursat prov...

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea                                                                    An asylee in Denmark, dissident Sam Serey has been sentenced in absentia to nine years and six months in jail in addition to his previous 20 years in jail for plotting and inciting the people to overthrow the government. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court, which pronounced the verdict on Wednesday, also ordered 48-year-old Serey to pay $750 in fine, and issued a warrant for his arrest.   Serey, the former president of Khmer National Liberation Front, armed terrorist group, was charged on two counts with “plotting and incitement to commit a felony or cause social unrest” under Articles 453, 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code.   Presiding Judge Khun Sonan said on 1 & 2 October, 2019, Serey posted on his Fac...

  Buth Reaksmey Kongkea   The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sentenced a South African man to three years in prison for cheating $35,000 from a South Korean man.   The accused’s conviction was yesterday announced after the court conducted his trial and interrogated him for about hours in the courtroom.   Presiding Judge Im Vannak named the accused as Yunus Khumalo, 49, and the victim as Yang Sung-Sook, 41. “The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has decided to sentence the accused Yunux Khumalo to three years in prison and a fine of 100 million riels ($25,000),” Judge Vannak read the verdict on Tuesday.   The court also ordered Khumalo to pay $35,000 in damages to Yang.   Judge Vannak said that Khumalo was charged with three counts of fraud under Article 377 and 378 of the Criminal Code, with “Money Laundry” under Articles  38 of  Cambodian  Law on Anti-Money Laundering and Financing, and with “entering into Cambodia ...

  Buth Reaksmey Kongkea   Seven former CNRP officials were charged in the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in connection with inciting the people to go against the government and the King via Facebook between 2018 and 2021.   The five men - Long Ry, Men Thavarin, Morn Phalla, Monh Sarath, and Mich Heang – and two women - Kim Tola, and Lanh Thavry were charged with “incitement to commit a felony” under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code while Mich Heang was charged with two counts on “incitement to commit a felony and insulting the King” under Articles 494, 495 and 437 of the Criminal Code.   Thavry, 33, a former CNRP commune chief, and Heang, 34, a labourer, were in the dock when the charges were read but the other five accused are at large.   During the hearing yesterday, Thavry said he had used Facebook to express his opinions and not to incite the people to revolt.   When Heang was questioned, he said he had also used Facebook to post his opin...

    Buth Reaskmey Kongkea The Supreme Court has upheld the sentence appeal of Cambodia’s former Consul-General to Kunming, China, Kruy Limheng, who was jailed for three years and fined 100 million riels ($25,000) for “money laundry”. The court also maintained the lower court’s decision to seize $119,379 from the sale of Limheng’s villa.   “After the hearing and the clear consideration in this criminal case, the Judges’ Council of the Supreme Court has considered that the judgment dated June 15, 2022, of the Phnom Penh Appeal Court was right and in accordance with the laws,” Presiding Judge Oeung Sieng said yesterday. “The Supreme Court also upholds the decision to seize the $119,379 obtained through the sale of Limheng’s villa that he had bought through his ill-gotten gains,” he added.   Limheng, 48, who was also former deputy secretary-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, was convicted on October 8, 2020, by Phnom Pen...

        Buth Reaksmey Kongkea   Pen Mom, aka Sreymom, a former CNRP activist, on Friday asked the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court verdict which has sentenced her to five years in prison over her alleged activities along with Sam Rainsy to create social unrest and attempting to overthrow the government between 2017 and 2019.   The 42-year-old former elected councillor of Kandorl commune in her appeal denied all the charges levelled against her saying that after the CNRP was dissolved by the Supreme Court in 2017, she had never contacted Rainsy or other former CNRP’s officials or leaders.   She also denied joining Rainsy’s plot in attempting to overthrow the government during his repatriation plan on November 11, 2019.   “My arrest and the sentence given by the lower court against me up to five years in prison is injustice and I cannot accept that because I did not commit any such thing. So, I request the court to release...

  Buth Reaskmey Kongkea   The Supreme Court on July 22, 2022 upheld the life sentence of three Taiwanese men convicted of trafficking more than 1.4 tons of drugs between 2012 and 2021 in Phnom Penh and Kampong Speu province.   The trio, Ly Po Han, 21, Ye Yong, 48, and Ye Yan Shou, 58, were also were fined 80 million riel each when they were sentenced on March 31 last year by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. The Phnom Penh Appeal Court upheld their sentences on June 6.   They were arrested when police raided their work place, Sin Yin Feng Cambodia Industry Co Ltd in Kampong Speu province, on December 12 last year and found 1,484 kilograms of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.    

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea   Three men accused of allegedly trafficking ivory and rare wildlife bones stood trial at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court recently. Presiding Judge Im Vannak said the three accused men were identified as La Seng Nguon, 42, Sok Theara also known as Chan Sampichr, 33; and Sey Hour,42. The trio were engaged in selling rare and endangered items and living in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district.   Judge Vannak  said that they all were charged with two accounts  ‘possessing and selling rare and endangered samples without permission’ under Article 98 of the Law on Forestry, and with ‘Money Laundry’ under Articles  38 of  Cambodian Law on Anti-Money Laundering and Financing.   He said that among them, La Seng Nguon was arrested and detained while Sok Theara and Sey Hour had been at large but they got court’s arrest warrant.   He emphasized that Seng Nguon was arrested on April 6 this year after Forestry ...

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea     The “change” catchphrase used by Kem Sokha during his time as CNRP vice-president was not meant to incite a coup to overthrow the government.   Sokha told the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday that the “change” slogan was to reform government leaders through the democratic process.   “The change I advocated for was through free, fair and accountable national elections and also with no violence.   “I would like to emphasise again and again that the change that I had used and addressed to former CNRP demonstrators in 2013 was not to incite a coup or topple the government by the armed forces or through undemocratic ways.   “The change is for reforms,” Sokha said.   He stressed that (the now defunct) CNRP had wanted to change the government leaders through the national election, by free, fair and credible elections,” he added. Sokha also denied in court that he had conspired with foreign states or other foreign ...

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea   Kem Sokha, the former president of the court-dissolved Cambodian National Rescued Party (CNRP), declined to answer questions on ‘foreign spies and friendly diplomats’ who allegedly helped him, as he stood trial before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday.   The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday continued the hearing in the case in which Sokha was accused of allegedly conspiring with foreign states and agents in order to overthrow the Cambodian government between 1993 and 2017.   During yesterday’s hearing, Sokha refused to name the Western ambassador who he had allegedly met after the CNRP’s sit-in demonstration held at the Freedom Park at Daun Penh in Phnom Penh in July 2013.   The prosecutors also showed Sokha a video clip of a training session on how to organise peaceful demonstrations which was conducted by then vice-president Sokha and Sam Rainsy, then president of CNRP that was attended by 500 people at the Freedom ...

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea    Police yesterday arrested a suspect over Tuesday’s fatal shooting of a tycoon’s driver in Phnom Penh’s Boeng Keng Kang district. The murder took place at about 2.30pm at a villa in Boeng  Keng  district’s Boeng Keng Kang I commune.  Municipal Penal Police Chief Colonel Eng Sorphea identified the suspect as Ou Sophy, 39, from Kandal province’s Sa’ang district and who also worked for the tycoon’s family.   He identified the victim as Kong Suth, 44, from Prey Veng province’s Preah Sdach district. He said municipal police in cooperation with Kandal provincial penal police arrested Sophy in Sa’ang district’s Prek Ambel commune where he had fled to after the shooting. Col Sorphea said the victim was the tycoon’s driver while the suspect worked as the children’s bodyguard and driver.   He added that according to police’s investigation, a day before the murder, the victim and suspect argued w...

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea Former opposition leader Kem Sokha yesterday asked the Phnom Penh Municipal court to stop linking him with Sam Rainsy, his co-founder of the court-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) with whom he has cut off ties.   Speaking during his treason case hearing, Sokha also complained that video clips of Rainsy inciting people should not be used as evidence in his case. He noted that in one 2013 video, Rainsy is seen calling on people, especially workers, to participate in mass demonstrations, in Phnom Penh to change the government through undemocratic ways. Sokha told the court that he should not be linked to this incitement because, being a non-violent man, he did not agree with Rainsy’s action.   He said that the video clip, dated December 25, 2013, shows then CNRP president Rainsy grabbing his hand and raising it while informing people at a demonstration that “CNRP is determined to change the (Hun Sen) government.” Rainsy als...

  Buth Reaksmey Kongkea  The Phnom Penh Appeal Court heard the case of a 32-year-old man accused of smuggling 30 Cambodians from Svay Rieng province into Thailand to work in construction and withholding their salaries. Court’s Presiding Judge Suos Sam Ath said yesterday that the accused was identified as Morn Sovannara, also known as Khchao, a former labourer working in Thailand and living in Svay Rieng province’s Rohaek Meas district. Judge Sam Ath said that in 2020, Sovannara smuggled the 30 workers, who live in Svay Rieng province, into Thailand to look for work. He said that the accused also charged each victim a $200 fee to travel to Thailand and find work. After the victims arrived in Thailand’s Samut Sakhon province, Sovannara sold them to a Thai owner of a construction company and charged him three months salary for each worker before returning to Svay Rieng province. He noted that after three months of working in Thailand, the victims hadn’t received ...

  Buth Reaksmey Kongkea Six Taiwanese men were detained and charged yesterday by Preah Sihanouk Provincial Court for allegedly possessing and trafficking more 141,000 kilogrammes of drugs and drug manufacturing material. Provincial Anti-Drug Office Deputy Chief Lieutenant Colonel Vong Sokchea said that the suspects were identified as Zen Ming Jian, 44; Ling Yan Hong, 40; Chai Yu Zhong, 35; Chen Wei Yao, 38; Chen De Yan, 42; and Li Chong Hui, 51. All are Taiwanese tourists living in Preah Sihanouk province. Lt. Col. Sokchea said they were all charged with “drug possession, producing, transporting and trafficking” under Articles 38 and 40 of the Cambodian Law on Drug Control. If convicted, they are each facing life in prison. He emphasised that they were arrested on June 29 after police in the Anti-Drug Department in the Ministry of Interior cooperated with provincial anti-drug police and raided their rental house in Sihanoukville’s Bei commune. He added that police s...

  Buth Reaksmey Kongkea     A gunman killed a bodyguard by firing six shots at him while he was in the guard house of his employer’s house in Phnom Penh’s Boeng Keng Kang district.   Boeng Keng Kang I commune police deputy chef Major Long Sopheng said the gunman, who also worked for the businessman, rode up to the guard house on a motorcycle at about 1.30pm and opened fire at 44-year-old Kong Suth who was sitting inside.   “A CCTV recorded the whole incident. The gunman was very brave. He shot the victim in front of the CCTV camera. “The shooter did not worry about being recognised and he shot Suth six times and fled the scene. “Suth was shot in the chest and stomach and died on the spot,” Maj Sopheng said.   He said police rushed to the scene after they were alerted and found six bullet casings at the guard house.   Maj Sopheng believed the killing was because of ill will and hostility the victim and suspect had for one another....