Supreme Court hears appeal of ex-official jailed for fraud

 


Buth Reaksmey Kongkea 

The Supreme Court March 30, 2022 heard the appeal of a former government official who was jailed three years for alleged fraud and also for issuing bounced cheques. 

Judge Kong Tarachhath identified him as Ma Chinthean, 45, a former Ministry of Interior official from Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district. 

Judge Tarachhath said that in May 2019, Chinmathean received $500,000 from a real estate businesswoman named Khan Khiev, after he promised her he would help her secure a licence for an online casino operation in Preah Sihanouk province. 

He noted that after taking the money he did not get her the licence as promised. 

Judge Tarachhath said that when the plaintiff demanded her money back, Chinthean later issued two cheques for $500,000 to her. 

“When the plaintiff went to retrieve the money from his bank account, the accused did not have the money and the cheques bounced,” he said. 

Judge Tarachhath said that to claim for damages, the plaintiff filed a lawsuit against Chinthean to the court in 2020 which led to the accused being arrested on August 4, 2020. 

He said the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on November 11, 2020 sentenced Chinthean to three years in prison after he was charged with “fraud” under Articles 377 and 378 of the Criminal Code and with “issuing a bounced cheque” under Article of 231 of the Law on Negotiable Instrument and Payment Transactions. 

The court also ordered him to pay $500,000 for damages and also about $10,000 in compensation to the plaintiff. 

Judge Tarachhath added that the Appeal Court on August 19 last year upheld his conviction.

During his appeal hearing yesterday, Chinthean, who was present in the courtroom, admitted committing the offence. 

But he claimed that he was also cheated by another man who is at large. 

Chinthean told the court that in this case, he was only the middleman and had received only $400,000 and not $500,000 as claimed by the plaintiff. 

He said that after he had received the $400,000 from the plaintiff, he hired his friend named Taing Huoth, 47, to directly work with the related ministries’ officials to secure the licence. 

Chinthean said that he paid half of the money he received from the plaintiff to Huoth for the work. 

He said Huoth did not refund him the amount after he found out the government had banned online gambling and had stop issuing casino licences. 

Chinthean said that after he failed to secure the licence for the plaintiff, she started demanding her money back and because he did not have it he was forced to issue the two cheque as guarantees for repayment. 

He said that later, because he could not earn money to refund her, the plaintiff sued him in court and he was arrested. 

Chinthean acknowledged and agreed to pay $400,000 to the plaintiff and asked the Supreme Court to reduce his sentence by one year and cancel the compensation payment because he would not be able to earn money to pay it to the plaintiff due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

A verdict is due on April 12.

 

 

 

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