Government
Tourist numbers surge nationwide over new year
The number of tourists visiting provinces during the four days of Khmer New Year jumped 7.6 percent from last year as infrastructure, transport links and the number of nature resorts rise. ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23912/tourist-numbers-surge-nationwide-over-new-year/
Culture ministry bans film on forest activist Chut Wutty
The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts has banned a screening of a documentary film about murdered environmentalist Chut Wutty and threatened “strong action” against the venue if films continue to be shown without first being cleared by the government. ...
Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon and Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/culture-ministry-bans-film-forest-activist-chut-wutty
Offshore holdings are up for grabs, justice minister jokes
Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana quipped over the weekend that anyone who can find his offshore financial holdings—revealed earlier this month as part of the “Panama Papers” leak—can keep the money, according to Information Minister Khieu Kanharith. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/offshore-holdings-are-up-for-grabs-justice-minister-jokes-111464/
Finance Ministry Denies Sovereign Bond Reports
The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) has denied media reports the government will issue dollar-denominated sovereign bonds using Bangkok-based Twin Pine Consulting as advisers to raise more money and reduce reliance on foreign loans. ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23913/finance-ministry-denies-sovereign-bond-reports/
NEC touts achievements
A year after a major overhaul, the National Election Committee (NEC) issued a statement touting its achievements – including testing electronic voter registration and consulting donors like the EU and Japan – with one observer saying that despite criticism of the deal that reformed the ...
Bun Sengkong and Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/nec-touts-achievements
Tax registration deadline pushed back
The tax department issued a notice yesterday extending the deadline for businesses to finish their tax registration until May 31, the latest in a long string of delays that followed the introduction of strict new rules on tax registration in 2014. ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23887/tax-registration-deadline-pushed-back/
In Phnom Penh, a looming sewage crisis
Renderings of Casa Meridian, a new condominium complex, suggest that its wealthy buyers are investing in a glistening 414-unit skyscraper overlooking a placid, ocean-blue body of water surrounding Koh Pich island, which is sprouting a number of luxury towers developed by the Overseas Cambodian Investment ...
Ben Paviour
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/111364-111364/
In Cambodia, calls for Panama papers probe
Civil society groups and anti-corruption experts have urged Cambodia’s government to open an investigation into why Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana was named in the so-called Panama Papers. ...
Neou Vannarin
http://www.voanews.com/content/cambodia-panama-papers-probe-justice-minister-ang-vong-vathana/3280296.html
Government mulls online driver’s license registration
Less than a week after taking over the Transport Ministry, Sun Chanthol has established a committee to move more services online, including the process for applying for driver’s licenses, officials said on Monday. ...
Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-mulls-online-drivers-license-registration-111222/
New year pardons delayed to Visak Bochea day
The Ministry of Justice has announced that Royal pardons and reductions of prison sentences have been pushed back to Visak Bochea Day in May, as a result of prisons not offering enough information about potential candidates. ...
Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23812/new-year-pardons-delayed-to-visak-bochea-day/
Royal group in talks with China, Indonesia on proposed oil pipeline
Cambodian conglomerate the Royal Group is in talks with two foreign state-owned petroleum companies to conduct feasibility studies for an oil pipeline that would run from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh, a government official has confirmed. ...
Kali Kotoski and Sor Chandara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/royal-group-talks-china-indonesia-proposed-oil-pipeline
New group set up to tackle land disputes
The newly appointed minister of land management and urban planning, Chea Sophara, has announced a working group to handle petitions and complaints lodged by land dispute victims. ...
Lay Samean
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-group-set-tackle-land-disputes
City Hall spokesman named new ambassador to South Korea
Long Dimanche, the spokesman for Phnom Penh City Hall and son of a secretary of state in the Foreign Affairs Ministry, has been appointed to replace Suth Dina, the disgraced former ambassador to South Korea. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-hall-spokesman-named-new-ambassador-to-south-korea-111113/
Kingdom's judiciary perceived as most corrupt: UNDP
The judiciary is perceived as the most corrupt government institution in the Kingdom, according to a United Nations Development Programme global survey of corruption in the judiciary released on Friday. ...
Chhin Malin
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kingdoms-judiciary-perceived-most-corrupt-undp
Border troops on standby after threat from Laos
Cambodian soldiers in Stung Treng province have been placed on standby following threats of violence by Laotian authorities due to a dispute over Laos’ attempt to construct a military base near a stretch of undemarcated border, a spokesman for the provincial government said on Friday. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/border-troops-on-standby-after-threat-from-laos-111057/
China, Southeast Asian countries to improve anti-terror cooperation
China and Southeast Asian countries decided to improve their cooperation in security and anti-terrorism during a meeting in Beijing on Thursday. The two sides will take action to improve multilateral and bilateral cooperation against terrorism, said senior Chinese official Meng Jianzhu. ...
Tian Shaohui
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-04/07/c_135259290.htm
Cambodian investment by fund with $1 billion ambition to increase sustainability-focused banking
Sustainability Finance Real Economies SICAV – SIF (SFRE, pronounced Sapphire) has made an investment totalling USD 4 million in PRASAC (Cambodia) a microfinance institution, in line with its strategy of advancing social, environmental and economic development by providing capital to banks. ...
Teachers’ homes to be made of illegal timber
Houses will be built for school teachers from illegally-felled timber seized by authorities, the Ministry of Education has announced, but before work can start on the new structures officials from the ministry have been asked to gather information on which schools need the houses the ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23767/teachers----homes-to-be-made-of-illegal-timber/
Probe into justice minister possible, ACU chief says
The Anti-Corruption Unit has not yet opened an investigation into Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana’s secretive offshore holdings, but the unit’s chairman said on Thursday that a future probe could not be ruled out. ...
Ben Sokhean and Taylor O'Connell
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/probe-into-justice-minister-possible-acu-chief-says-110998/
New transport minister unveils 100-day plan
Sun Chanthol, the newly-appointed Minister of Public Works and Transport, revealed his plan to improve the ministry’s efficiency and transparency by overhauling its internal operations within his first 100 days in office during a speech yesterday. ...
Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23768/new-transport-minister-unveils-100-day-plan/
Stormy start to 2016: ministry
Five people died and more than 200 houses in eight provinces were damaged by natural disasters in the first quarter of this year, a senior official of the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) said yesterday. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23763/stormy-start-to-2016--ministry/
Ambassador charged, jailed for vast corruption
Suth Dina, who rose through the ranks of the Foreign Ministry to become Cambodia’s top diplomat in South Korea in 2014, continued his fall from grace on Thursday as he was imprisoned on charges of corruption and abuse of power, according to his lawyer and ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ambassador-charged-jailed-for-vast-corruption-111000/
New protected forests test overstretched ministry
The nearly 1 million hectares of newly protected forests the Environment Ministry wants to create by the end of the year will add nearly a third more land to the portfolio of an agency already struggling to manage the 3.2 million hectares it has. And ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/111001-111001/
UN to assist NEC ahead of elections
The United Nations is ready to cooperate with and support the National Election Committee (NEC) with additional aid, providing it submits a written letter of intent to the UN’s office in the country. ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23769/un-to-assist-nec-ahead-of-elections/