Law and judiciary

Following charges by the Appeal Court alleging that he swindled a former supporter out of $70,000 between 2009 and 2011, League for Democracy Party (LDP) president Khem Veasna yesterday criticised the Cambodian judiciary, saying that the courts were under the control of “powerful people” and ...

The widow of Ung Meng Chue, a tycoon who was gunned down outside a fruit store in Phnom Penh in November, was questioned by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for the first time on Tuesday. ...

Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) chief Om Yentieng on Wednesday denied that ousted Phnom Penh Municipal Court director Ang Mealaktei had been arrested following two days of questioning over serious graft claims, despite two well-placed officials indicating otherwise. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday told provincial governors to take responsibility for curbing forestry crimes in their respective provinces and scolded officials who blame one another when illegal logging is uncovered. ...

Authorities yesterday forced out 10 Vietnamese citizens and burned down several shrines illegally built on a Navy-controlled island off of Koh Kong province, an official said. ...

As eight Cambodian students wait to be evacuated from the embattled Yemeni capital of Sanaa, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said Wednesday 12 others have been located in the country. ...

Authorities in Ratanakkiri province on Tuesday said local residents were probably lying about having recently come across the partially buried body of a Montagnard asylum seeker from Vietnam. ...

Police in Sihanoukville on Tuesday raided the rented house of a Russian businessman who is wanted by local authorities for ordering a violent attack at the Queenco casino in February, but came up empty- handed, an official said. ...

About 100 women’s rights activists were prevented from riding tuk-tuks to the National Assembly and the Phnom Penh headquarters of the ruling CPP on Tuesday, but successfully delivered a petition to the opposition CNRP demanding female representation on the reformed National Election Committee. ...

The first draft of a long-awaited food law that aims to regulate food safety and quality “from the farm to the table” could be completed as soon as July, UN and government officials said yesterday. ...

At least 58 Cambodians were among the more than 300 enslaved fishermen recently rescued from a remote island in Indonesia’s Maluku province, an intergovernmental migration body said Tuesday. ...

League for Democracy Party (LDP) president Khem Veasna was yesterday charged at the Appeal Court on allegations that he cheated a party activist out of $70,000 between 2009 and 2011. The plaintiff, Duk Moeun, had sued Veasna at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in August 2013, ...

The Stung Treng Provincial Court on Monday charged a local farmer with drug trafficking after police arrested him near the Laotian border in Thala Barivat district on Saturday, officials said. ...

The new chief of the Preah Sihanouk provincial police force Monday vowed to carry out orders to protect and monitor foreigners in the seaside city of Sihanoukville after being officially appointed to the position in a ceremony earlier in the day. ...

More than 100 slot machines worth over $1 million in total were seized in a police raid on a warehouse in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district on Monday, an Interior Ministry official said. ...

The Justice Ministry on Monday said it had completed its investigation into bribery allegations against ousted Phnom Penh Municipal Court director Ang Mealaktei but refused to reveal the results. ...

Several high-ranking provincial military officials – including Prey Veng’s military police commander, some of whose men are under investigation for police brutality – are slated for reassignment to national positions, according to a document obtained yesterday. ...

A former Ministry of Interior police officer was tried by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday for allegedly embezzling more than $1.5 million under the pretense of buying land from Kandal province villagers for a company he used to work for. ...

Health Minister Mam Bunheng has been called to appear before the National Assembly’s anticorruption commission, according to a copy of the summons issued by acting National Assembly President Kem Sokha obtained Sunday. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Saturday fined and released 10 workers swept up in a crackdown on illegal sand dredging operations by the Ministry of Mines and Energy last week. ...

A planned demonstration against the consumption of dog meat was shut down before it could begin in Phnom Penh on Sunday after city authorities said the group did not have permission to gather. ...

Child protection NGO Friends International said this week it will contest being officially cited as the originator of allegations of sexual misconduct at Our Home orphanage that led to the center’s closure last month and to the imprisonment of its director, Hang Vibol, on suspicion ...

The Koh Kong Provincial Court on Friday questioned an Areng Valley villager opposed to a government-backed hydropower dam over allegations of illegal logging but has yet to lay charges. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday delayed the trial of fugitive Defense Ministry official Thong Sarath’s parents, who are facing charges of possessing illegal firearms. ...