Law and judiciary

Corruption remains a major impediment to Cambodia’s development, but the systemic practices associated with it can be curbed if the government takes serious action, a transparency advocate says. Preap Kol, executive director of Transparency International Cambodia, told VOA Khmer in a studio interview recently that Cambodia ...

Human Rights investigator Chan Soveth has returned to Cambodia more than two-and-a-half months after leaving in the face of a criminal charge that is thought to be linked to an alleged insurrection that took place in Kratie province in May. On August 14, the court charge ...

Construction worker Samnang (not his real name), spent weeks confined to a hospital bed after piles of cement crashed down on him while he toiled without a hard hat. During the ensuing weeks of recovery at his home, the 28-year-old nursed head injuries and a broken ...

Nine months after former Bavet town Governor Chhouk Bandith allegedly shot three Garment workers during a protest, the Svay Reing provincial prosecutor has wrapped up his investigation, though a court date has not yet been set , a court official said yesterday. But the slow ...

As more than 100 protesters continued to spend their days camped outside the US embassy appealing for the release of two land activists, a delegation from Amnesty International visited the Boeung Kak Community yesterday to offer support for their fight Amnesty International would continue to monitor ...

Villagers in Ratanakirri province filed complaints to the provincial court and rights group Adhoc yesterday, claiming three security guards patrolling former state forest in O’Chum district threatened them and fired an AK-47 to scare them away. Kreung ethnic villager Travh Khambon, 37 of La’ak commune Kam ...

Hang Serei Oudom told his 7-month pregnant wife that he was going out to meet a source. A journalist for Vorakchun Khmer Daily, he was investigating illegal logging for luxury woods in the jungles of Cambodia’s northeastern Ratanakkiri province. Three days later, on Sept. 11, he ...

A company owned by a board member of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce has been accused of illegally destroying more than 80 houses in Kampot province’s Chhouk district, a claim vigorously denied by the firm and local authorities. Chan Pheng, a villager from Chi Bak village ...

Cambodia collected $633 million in taxes over the first 10 months of this year, a 31 per cent rise from $483 million over the same period last year, according to the General Department of Taxation. However, an opposition watchdog claimed the amount is still far ...

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have closed an investigation into suspicious payments to officials in Cambodia by the world’s largest mining company BHP Billiton, according to a report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Although the report, released last month, does not ...

Two land activists from forced evictions in Phnom Penh will not be released on bail as they await trial on incitement charges widely seen as an attack on free speech. The two women, Yorm Bopha and Tim Sak Mony, were arrested in early September and accused ...

Twelve families from Koh Kong province on Nov. 6  filed a complaint with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s youth volunteers and the Department of Land Management, requesting assistance in a land dispute with businessman, Heng Huy. Pok Yon, the families’ representative, said that earlier this year, Heng ...

More than 100 moto-taxi and tuk tuk drivers who are part of a little-known workers union submitted a letter to the U.S. Embassy and the European Union Delegation yesterday, asking them not to intervene in the case of Boeng Kak activist Yorm Bopha. It is not ...

Disgraced former Lieutenant General Doeun Sovann appeared in court on Nov. 5, 2012. to answer charges for attempting to rope in volunteers from Prime Minister Hun Sen’s national land-titling scheme, monitoring measurment of a disputed plot he allegedly purchased. Phnom Penh Municipal Court investigating Judge Ly ...

Norway-based Eltek Valere has won a court injunction against Mfone, the Cambodian mobile subsidiary of SET-listed satellite operator Thaicom, for its failure to pay outstanding service charges. According to The Bangkok Post on Monday, citing court documents, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court ruled in favor of ...

In its first official response to a highly critical resolution on Cambodia from the European Parliament, the government has rejected all criticism and instead accused the Parliament in Brussels of playing politics and interfering in Phnom Penh’s affairs. In its resolution approved October 26, the European ...

The National Election Committee (NEC) has removed opposition leader Sam Rainsy from the voter list for next year’s national election on the grounds that he is a convicted criminal, an NEC official said yesterday. The decision means that even if Mr. Rainsy is granted a royal ...

The government and private companies are being encouraged to adopt a voluntary initiative in order to make revenues generated by the extractives sector more transparent. The workshop on the Best Practice of Governance in Extractive Industries and Revenue Management, which was held in Phnom Penh on Friday by ...

Bloggers from across Asia came together in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap this weekend to discuss blogging, technology and Internet freedom at 2012’s Blogfest Asia festival, a gathering of over 160 opinionated and distinctly geeky participants. Tops on the agenda? Internet freedom.  The Cambodian contingent ...

Rann Boroth, the only man convicted in the double killing six months ago of the country’s leading environmental activist, Chut Wutty, and military police officer, walked free from prison on Friday after the Koh Kong Provincial Court issued an order for his release. On October ...

A lawyer for Norwegian-owned power and electronics equipment firm Eltek Valere yesterday called on investors not to buy stakes in the Thai-owned mobile phone operator Mfone, and to await court’s ruling. The lawyer’s appeal came after the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued a warrant for keeping ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday charged one of its own clerks [Kruoch Borath] with breach of trust for taking $250,000 dollars that was paid to the clerk to facilitate a speedy trial without “problems,” officials said. [Another clerk for Judge Lim Meng] Mr. Khen ...

The collective power of agricultural co-operatives could bring huge benefits to poor, small-scale farmers, a Phnom Penh conference for international World Food Day heard on Friday. The sentiments were shared by the director of Cambodia’s General Directorate of Agriculture, So Khan Rithy Kun, who said farming ...

Some 285 million workers will migrate for employment when ASEAN countries open their borders to each other in 2015, Prime Minister Hun Sen predicted yesterday, as he urged speedier regional legislative action to ensure they could travel safely. At an ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Council meeting, the premier warned ...