Anti-corruption

The parents of Cambodia’s ambassador to South Korea, Suth Dina, yesterday made a public appeal to Prime Minister Hun Sen, as their son, who is accused of corruption, prepared to spend his third night in custody ahead of a likely court appearance this morning.   ...

A relative of Cambodia’s ambassador to South Korea, who was detained on Monday amid a corruption probe, yesterday claimed the envoy was innocent, as the Anti-Corruption Unit reportedly prepared to send the case to court.   ...

A Foreign Affairs Ministry official arrested by anti-corruption authorities last week for taking bribes to process documents for a foreign company has been charged with embezzlement and sent to prison to await trial, officials said on Monday.   ...

Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana had a stake in a shadowy offshore company in the British Virgin Islands, according to data made public on Sunday in what is being called the largest leak of secret documents in history. ...

Cambodia’s ambassador to South Korea was summoned to appear before the Anti-Corruption Unit on Monday morning for questioning over allegations of corruption, and was expected to be arrested later in the day, the unit’s chief said.   ...

The Ministry of Interior has ordered National Police to investigate a scam in which unidentified callers claimed to be senior officials at the ministry and the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) in an attempt to extort money from district governors, according to a letter issued on April ...

Police have started a countrywide manhunt after an anonymous caller attempted to extort money from district governors in Kampong Chhnang and Battambang while posing as Interior Ministry secretary of state Sak Sehta last month. On March 4 and then again on March 12, an anonymous caller ...

On Monday, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced a new phase of the Public Financial Management Reform Program, a donor-assisted initiative established in 2004 to bolster the country’s ability to soundly manage its budget. In a speech at the launch event, he touted the government’s progress ...

A high school director in Prey Veng province accused of embezzling thousands of dollars was transferred to a new position with the provincial government on Wednesday following a protest by students and teachers. ...

The government’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) on Thursday announced it was launching an official investigation into allegations that deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha made unlawful land and apartment purchases for a mistress. ...

In the wake of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) clearing him of any wrongdoing, a Phnom Penh commune police chief yesterday refuted allegations that he had accepted protection pay-offs from neighbourhood drug dealers. ...

Cambodia’s anti-corruption body on Tuesday decided it had jurisdiction over corruption allegations against deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha for making lavish promises to a purported mistress in leaked audio recordings. ...

The chief executive of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) resigned his post on Monday in the wake of an investigation into a possible $200,000 bribe paid by a gaming firm he previously headed to a consultancy with connections to a sister of Prime Minister Hun ...

Australian gaming firm Tabcorp on Tuesday confirmed that it was under investigation by Australian police over a possible bribe it paid in 2009 to a Cambodian consultancy connected to a sister of Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday said the government is now paying almost all civil servants’ salaries and collecting taxes using technology, rather than relying on officials to handle cash, which reduces corruption. ...

The director-general of state-run phone and Internet operator Tele­com Cambodia has been fired amid an investigation into alleged embezzlement within the firm, a spokesman for the Min­istry of Posts and Tele­com­mun­ications confirmed on Sunday. ...

The director of Transparency International Cambodia on Friday called for all political parties to incorporate anti-corruption measures into their platforms before next year’s commune elections. ...

The General Director of the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) yesterday denied a slew of corruption allegations published by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), including one that he hired 500 employees after they paid $3,000 apiece for a job. The PPWSA – once a beacon ...

South Korea’s Ministry of Justice has become the second of that nation’s ministries to deny it is working with Cambodia’s ambassador to the country, Suth Dina, to clamp down on illegal migrants and political dissent. ...

A Cambodian-American political scientist has proposed a novel way to tackle corruption in the Kingdom: force bribe-taking bureaucrats to compete with each other. ...

Transperancy International Cambodia yesterday called on the authorities to fulfill their commitment to the introduction of a whistleblower law, saying it would be key in protecting those who otherwise might not call out corruption. ...

Cambodia’s “Economic Free­dom”—a broad measure of how well individuals and businesses can create and protect their wealth —was classed as “mostly unfree” in a new report released by the Washington-based Heritage Foun­dation, which identified corruption and bureaucracy as impediments to free markets. ...

Cambodia’s national corruption watchdog has added two more firms to its list of private sector companies committed to stamping out corruption, a government news source said yesterday. ...

An anonymous complaint against a deputy regional military commander filed to the Anti-Corruption Unit, which included allegations of skimming from soldiers’ salaries, has been dismissed by Defence Minister Tea Banh as untrue following a Ministry of Defence investigation. ...