Former minister Ahmad Yahya and nephew ask the Supreme Court to drop charges of trafficking

 

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea 

The former Parliamentarian Ahmad Yahya and his nephew yesterday asked the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling of the lower courts, who sentenced them to 15 years and to release them.

The accused, Ahmad Yahya, 70, the former President of the Accent Group and also the former Social Affairs Ministry secretary of state and his nephew Ismael Pin Osman, 49, a former official, who worked at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, were convicted of trafficking two Cham women from Cambodia to work as housemaids in Saudi Arabia between 2004 and 2017. 

Presiding Judge Kong Srim said that in this case, the accused Yahya and Osman were sentenced on August 13, 2019 by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to 15 years each in prison. 

The court also ordered both of them to jointly pay 200 million Riels (about $50,000) each to the women.

Judge Srim said that they were charged with “unlawful removal for cross-border transfer” under Article 11 of the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation. 

They appealed to the Phnom Penh Appeal Court but the court had upheld their conviction on December 28, 2021.  They continued their appeal to the Supreme Court, he said.  

Osman was arrested by police in the anti-human trafficking department in the Ministry of Interior on February 11, 2018 while Yahya was arrested on August 13, 2019, Srim said. 

They were arrested after they had recruited around 300 Cambodian women, who some of them were underage, through Yahya’s company “Accent Group” to work as housemaids, with a promise of a salary from $120 to $200 per month in Saudi Arabia between 2004 and 2017, he added. 

During his appeal yesterday, Yahya denied the allegations but recognised that his company, “Accent Group,” aim was to find jobs so that they could support their families in Cambodia. 

Yahya said that his company was a legal company, licensed and registered with the Ministry of Commerce.

He confirmed, his company had recruited about 300 Cambodian women including the two victims to work in Saudi Arabia.

However, he did not traffic those people to work in Saudi Arabia as accused, he said.

He did not know that the two victims had been exploited or sold by their employers in Saudi Arabia, he added. 

“They came to my company and asked me to help them find a job,” said Yahya. 

“I had pity for them and helped them to find a job in Saudi Arabia through my company and now I am a prisoner and convicted for 15 years because of my generosity,” he said. 

“I am a former lawmaker, I know the laws and I respect the laws. I did not violate the laws or traffic anyone to work abroad as accused,” he added. 

Yahya asked the Supreme Court to drop his charges and release him from prison.

Osman said that he also did not know the two victims or send them to work in Saudi Arabia in 2004.

In 2004, he was an official working with the Ministry of Public Works and Transports. He was very busy with his government work, he did not have any free time to work for his uncle’s company, Osman said. 

“I was innocent and I knew nothing about this case. I would like the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling of the lower court, drop my charge and release me from the prison,” he said.

Oum Bunthoeun, Yahya’s lawyer, said regarding this case, his client was charged under Article 11 of the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation. 

The Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation was established in 2008, he said. 

The crime happened in 2004, four years after the law was created, he added. 

“In this regard, if my client had really committed the offence as accused, he should not have been arrested, detained or sentenced because the crime occurred before the law was created by the National Assembly,” Bunthoeun noted. 

Bunthoeun urged the court to transfer his client’s case back to the appeal court for retrial. The verdict is due on April 26.