Ex-consul-general Kruy Limheng jail, fine upheld by the Supreme Court

 

 


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 Penh Municipal Court with “intentional destruction and destruction; abuse of power; misappropriation of public funds”. 

Besides his seven-year jail, a $25,000 fine, Lim heng was also ordered to pay $35,000 in damages to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. 

His appeal to the Phnom Penh Appeal Court was turned down by the court on June 15. 

Limheng was arrested on December 27, 2019, by the Anti-Corruption Unit in Phnom Penh after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation filed a report.

Limheng was appointed as the Cambodian Consul-General in Kunming in January 2016 and between 2016 and 2018, he reportedly embezzled $35,000 in visa fees. 

After he was removed as consul-general on June 21, 2018, Limheng stole 217 visas and signed and stamped the visas before giving them to his personal secretary in the consul office to be sold and the funds given to him. 

In a separate case, the court 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 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 workplace, 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.

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