REAKSMEY KONGKEA

  Buth Reaksmey Kongkea  All charges against real estate tycoon Duong Ngieb, who was detained for fraud, forging public documents and issuing fake cheques to two Taiwanese businessmen, were dropped by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday. Presiding Judge Sin Sovannroat said yesterday that Duong Ngieb’s was found not guilty and all charges against him were dropped.  Ngieb was arrested on February 14, 2022, and sued by two Taiwanese businessmen identified as Chim Yu Yen and Yao Ching King for allegedly embezzling $7,305,000 from them for fake land titles between 2018 and 2020. Ngieb allegedly issued fake cheques worth more than $7 million to the plaintiffs in order to settle his debts. Ngieb, a former Lieutenant General Police Official working with the Ministry of Interior, was charged with three counts of “fraud and forging a public document”  under Articles 377, 378, 639 and 630 of the Criminal Code and with “ issuing fake cheques”  under Article 2...

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea Police from the Ministry of Interior’s Anti-Drug Department on October 25 arrested three suspected drug traffickers and seized nearly 160 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine in the capital’s Daun Penh district. Anti-Drug Police Officer Major Nuon Bunnarith said that the men, a Laotian, Vietamese and Cambodian, were arrested at about 4pm in the district’s Psar Thmey I commune. Maj Bunnarith that they were arrested after they had transported the drugs by a taxi from the Cambodian-Laotian border in Stung Treng province to Phnom Penh in order to stock up at their rental house and distribute to users in the capital.  He said that after their arrest, police seized 160 big packages of crystal methamphetamine weighing nearly 160 kilogrammes from them.  “They are still being temporarily detained at the Ministry of Interior for questioning and further investigation to find out about other traffickers in their group,” Maj Bunnarith said. “They will be s...

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea An old woman claiming to be a fortuneteller was yesterday charged and detained by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court accused of cheating $510,000 from a couple who she allegedly tricked into selling more than 50 hectares of land in Kampong Speu province between 2015 and 2016 that she never owned.  Investigating Judge San Bunthoeun, identified the accused as Pok Saokhan, 63, a fortuneteller living in Kambol district’s Kambol commune in Phnom Penh. The accused was charged with two counts of “fraud and breach of trust” under Articles 377, 378, 391 and 392 of the Criminal Code. The accused was arrested on October 24, and if convicted, faces between 6 months and three years in prison. Commissariat of Phnom Penh Municipal Police Major Vong Sareth said yesterday that the two victims were identified as Khong Seanghy and his wife Sok Chenda, both are land brokers living in Toul Kork district’s Phsar Depo I commune. Maj Sareth said that according to th...

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea    A former provincial regiment military commander, who swindled money from poor families in the name of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s younger sister Hun Sinath, was arrested from his house yesterday.   The 45-year-old suspect went into a hiding and has evaded his arrest for over a year.   In her lawsuit filed at the Koh Kong Provincial Court in June last year, Sinath demanded $200,000 in compensation from suspect Mao Ouch for collecting money in her name to settle some land disputes in Botum Sakor district of Koh Kong province.   Kambol district police deputy Chief Lieutenant Colonel Heng Vireak said yesterday that the former 303th Regiment military commander based in Koh Kong province’s Mondul Seima district, cooperated with the police in his arrest.   “Mao Ouch was arrested at around 10 am in front of his rental house in Kambol district in accordance with Koh Kong Provincial Court’s arrest warrant after he had been on the run f...

  Buth Reaksmey Kongkea    Phnom Penh Municipal Court on October 19, 2022 sentenced former opposition leader Sam Rainsy in absentia to a life sentence and also bans him from doing politics for life for allegedly agreeing to cede four Cambodia’s northeastern provinces to Vietnam’s Montagnard if the former Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) won the 2013 election.   Presiding Judge Sin Sovannroath stated that in this case, the accused Sam Rainsy, 72, was charged with “handing over to foreign state all or part of the national territory” under Articles 27 and 440 of the Criminal Code. “The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has decided to sentence the accused Sam Rainsy to a life sentence,” Judge Sovannroath read the verdict yesterday. “The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has also banned him from doing politics for a life,” he said.   Related to the case, Judge Sovannroath said that on April 14, 2013, the accused Sam Rainsy, who was then the President of ...

  Buth Reaksmey Kongkea   The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on October 12, 2022 sentenced three men and a woman to 30 years in prison each for possessing and trafficking nearly 3 kilograms of ice in Chroy Changvar district last year. The court dropped charges against two other accused and ordered for his release because they did not find the guilty as accused. Presiding Judge Yinh Chheanavy named the six accused as Meng Sopheaktra also known as Baraing, male, 42; Chorn Sochan, male, 26; Te Lipheng Ang, male, 25; Tong Tharith, male, 42; Chan Phearum, male, 27; and Nguon Palinka, female, 39.    “The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has decided to drop the charges against the accused Tong Tharith and Chan Phearum because they did not have guilt,”   he said.   She emphasized that they were charged with “drug possession and trafficking” under Article 40 of the Cambodian Law on Drugs Control. He said that they were arrested on October 19 last year in Phnom Penh’...

  Buth Reaksmey Kongkea      The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the conviction of four Vietnamese-drug-traffickers who were convicted in 2020 by the lower court to imprisonment from 30 years to a life sentence each for possessing and trafficking nearly 100 kilograms of ice committed in 2018, in Phnom Penh.   Presiding Judge Chiv Keng named the four convicts as Nguyen Tuon Anh, male, 24,  Yoeung Hoang Viet, male, 22,  Nguyen Thi Ngoc, 21, female; and Nguyen Thi Ngin, female, 30. They are Vietnamese tourists. Judge Keng said that among them, Yoeung Hoang Viet and Nguyen Thi Ngin were sentenced on November 23, 2019 by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to a life sentence in prison each and a fine 80 million Riels (about $ 20,000) each while Nguyen Tuon Anh and Nguyen Thi Ngoc were sentenced to 30 years in prison and also a fine 50 million Riels (about $ 12, 500) each.   He said that they were charged with “drug possession, transport, trafficking ...

    Buth Reaksmey Kongkea Dr Chhim Phalvorun, Cambodia People’s Party (CPP) spokesman and former staffer of Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR), a non-governmental organisation run by Kem Sokha, former president of court-dissolved Cambodian National Rescued Party (CNRP), testified against the latter at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on October 12, 2022.   Judges’ Council of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday questioned 57-year-old Phalvorun, a witness in the case, about Sokha’s activities and the establishment of CCHR in 2002 in connection with trial of Sokha over his alleged conspiracy with foreign agents to overthrow the Cambodian government between 1993 and 2017.   In yesterday's hearing, Phalavorun, who is now the director of the Institute for Civil Education and also the government’s Minister Delegate, labelled Kem Sokha as ‘a fake human rights activist hungry for power and foreign agent who was running a fake NGO’.   He told the court th...

  Buth Reaksmey Kongkea   A South Korean businessman was yesterday tried by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for allegedly cheating a countryman out of $65,000 by claiming to be able to secure the release of the victim’s brother who was arrested over online scams. Judge Key Manera named the accused as Park Bong Jae, 38, an IT specialist who formerly worked with a South Korean-online gambling company in Phnom Penh.   Judge Manera identified the victim as Chung Sung Ho, 42, the owner of a South Korean-owned real estate company living in Phnom Penh. He said Bong Jae was charged with “Fraud” under Articles 377 and 378 of the Cambodian Criminal Codes and with “staying in Cambodia without proper document” under Articles 28 and 30 of the Cambodian Law on Immigration. If convicted, the accused faces a jail term of between six months and three years.   Judge Manera said that on January 26, the victim’s elder brother was arrested by Cambodian Interpol officers) ove...

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea   Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday jailed a woman and her younger brother, who was arrested for drug trafficking, over the offering of $100,000 in bribes to secure his release from detention.   Presiding Judge Khun Sona named the two as Pol Rany, 49, a former health officer, and Pol Chetra, 36, a former soldier.   “The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has decided to sentence the accused  Pol Chetra to six years and the accused Pol Rany to five years in prison,” Judge Sona read the verdict.   “The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has decided to confiscate the evidence $100,000, that the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) had seized from the two accused, to put in the state’s budget,” he said.  “The two accused have the right to appeal the court’s verdict to the court of appeal within the period of a month if they do not accept it.”   Judge Sona said that Rany was charged with “Proffering of Bribes” while Chetra was charged with...

    Buth Reaksmey Kongkea    A 29-year-old-suspected drug trafficker was sentenced on October 11, 2022 by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to 30 years in prison and a fine $ 2,500 for allegedly possession and trafficking of nearly one kilogram of ice in the capital.   Presiding Judge Ros Piseth named the accused as Ouch Sokny, was charged with “drug possession and trafficking” under Article 40 of the Cambodian Law on Drugs Control. He said that Sokny was arrested on March 22, 2022 in Porsenchey district’s Choam Chao II commune.    He added that police arrested nearly one kilogram of crystal methamphetamine.     

  Buth Reaksmey Kongkea A Chinese national was arrested on October 9, 2022 t night in possession of one kilogramme of Ketamine at Phnom Penh International Airport by police from the Anti-Drug Department of the Ministry of Interior and custom and excise officers based at the airport. The sting operation was led by Phnom Penh court deputy prosecutor Heng Pheng. Anti-Drug Police Department police officer Lieutenant Colonel Nuon Sothearith said yesterday that the suspect was identified as Li Cheng Ye, male, 38, a Chinese tourist from Beijing. Lt Col Sothearith said that at about 6pm on Sunday, the suspect walked into the departure area after checking in for a flight to Thailand. While the suspect was passing through airport security, the x-ray machine detected irregularities on the man’s music device. “After inspecting his speaker, police discovered more than a kilogramme of drugs in the device,” Lt Col Sothearith said. “After seizing the evidence, police immed...

                         Buth Reaksmey Kongkea   Military police yesterday afternoon sent eight Chinese men to Phnom Penh Municipal Court for questioning after they were arrested last weekend for allegedly kidnapping a Vietnamese businesswoman and extorting $1million from her family in exchange for her release.    Phnom Penh Military Police Officer Major Long Kimheng said yesterday that the eight suspects are members of a Chinese gang living in Phnom Penh.    Maj. Kimheng identified the victim as 34-year-old Vietnamese businesswoman Nguven Thi Ming Ngang, However, he did not release the names of eight Chinese suspects.    Maj. Kimheng said that suspects were arrested at about 12.30 am on Saturday midnight after the military police forces raided a condo where they were staying in Phnom Penh.   “They were arrested with evidence and the military police had rescued the v...

  Buth Reaksmey Kongkea  Phnom Penh Municipal Court on October 7, 2022 found Candlelight Party vice-president Son Chhay guilty of defamation and ordered him to pay over $750,000 over allegations made concerning the June Commune Election.   The National Election Committee (NEC) and Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) sued him over the criticism that the election was not independently held in a free and fair manner.   He was ordered to pay a fine of 9 million riel (about $2,500) in the NEC suit and ordered to pay 3,000 million riel (about $750,000) to the CPP. Chhay was found to have defamed both parties by saying describing the preliminary commune election results as “not reflecting the true will of the people” and the NEC was “not independent in conducting the June 5 election”. Judge Ham Mengse said that Chhay, 66, was charged with “Public Defamation” under Article 305 of the Criminal Code.   He said the accused was sued by the NEC and the CPP’s lawyers ...

  Buth Reaksmey Kongkea   Phnom Penh Municipal Court on October 4, 2022   began the trial of a woman and her younger brother, who was arrested for drug trafficking, both of were charged over the offering of $100,000 in bribes to secure his release from detention.   Presiding Judge Khun Sona named the accused as Pon Rany, 49, a former health officer living in Kampong Speu province’s Samrong Tong district and Pon Chetra, 36, a former soldier.   Judge Sona said Rany was charged with “Proffering of Bribes” and Chetra “Initiating in Proffering of Bribes” under the Articles 28 and 605 of the Criminal Code and Article 32 of the Law on Anti-Corruption.   If convicted, they face punishment of from five to 10 years in prison each.   Judge Sona said that on April 27 and 28, police in the anti-drug department in the Ministry of Interior arrested six suspects, including Chetra, for involvement with drug trafficking and illegal use of weapons in Takeo prov...