Ministry Lists Fees to Help Firms Avoid Graft Claims

The government has publicly issued lists showing the costs of fees that businesses must pay to authorities for various services, in an effort to help companies avoid making informal payments made illegal by the anticorruption law. The lists were drafted during the past year after Cambodia adopted articles in its Penal Code that stipulated that all informal payments made to officials were illegal. Foreign businesses here responded by informing the government that it was simply impossible to do business without paying such fees. According to a proclamation signed by Finance Minister Keat Chhon on December 27, the list of fees covers 134 payments businesses often make to the ministry’s departments of customs and taxation—two bodies that investors have long cited as problematic due to their high levels of graft. The proclamation also covers 175 different fees charged by the Ministry of Commerce and its CamControl department, which regulates the country’s imports and exports. …

http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-lists-fees-to-help-firms-avoid-graft-claims-8434/