Seven Bank Officers Jailed over $ 8 Million Embezzlement




Buth Reaksmey Kongkea 

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sentenced four female and three male senior officers to two years and six months in prison each for allegedly embezzling a total of $8 million from Canadia Bank PLC between 2016 and 2019.  

 

Presiding Judge Hok Pov named the women as Teang Wathanaknearyroth, 31; Sum  Sovannachakrya, 30; Sath Rachna, 30;  and Nuth Panhsocheata, 31;

He identified the men as Thong Sotheay, 31; Chan Simontha, 39; and Soum Heang, 43.

 

“The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has decided to sentence seven of them to two years and six months in prison each,” Judge Pov read the verdict yesterday.

“The Phnom Penh Municipal Court orders them to jointly pay $8 million for damages and another 30 million Riels (about $7,500) each in compensation to Van Chhar, the representative of the Canadia Bank PLC as plaintiff in the case,” he said. 

Judge Pov said that they were charged with “Breach of Special Trust by Administrators or Other Persons” under Articles 27 and 393 of the Criminal Code. 

 He said they were arrested on February 25, 2020 by penal police in Phnom Penh. 

Judge Pov added that they were arrested in accordance with a lawsuit lodged by Chhar, the deputy-general director on behalf of Canadia Bank PLC over the embezzlement. 

The seven accused could not be reached for comment yesterday. 

Thuy Sokun, the lawyer of Teang Wathanaknearyroth and Chan Simontha, said yesterday outside the courtroom that the verdict is not right and is unfair for his clients. 

He said that his clients did not agree with it and will appeal to the higher court.

“My clients did not agree with this court’s verdict because they said that they did not steal any money from the Canadia Bank as accused,” Sokun said.


 

Sokun said that his clients had already been sentenced to four years in jail foer the same alleged crime by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court last year.   

He claimed that although his clients’ convictions had been upheld by the Supreme Court in August, they did not commit the crime.

According to the court’s document, obtained by the Khmer Time yesterday, all seven accused had been sentenced for embezzlement by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on March 30, 2021 to four years in prison each. 

The court also ordered them to jointly pay $6.16 million in damages and another 500 million Riels (about $125,000) as compensation to Canadia Bank PLC.

They had similarly been charged with “Breach of Special Trust by Administrators or Other Persons” under Article 27 and 393 of the Criminal Code. 

 

 

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