News

Two organisations hope a new award, which includes cash prizes and entry into an international corruptionr-reporting conference, will encourage Cambodian journalists to up their game in reporting on corruption issues. ...

A parliamentary committee will look into allegations of illegal logging and timber exports, where big money and deep corruption have led to conflict, deforestation and tax fraud. Opposition lawmaker Ho Vann, who leads the National Assembly committee, told VOA Khmer he is looking into evidence and ...

A draft law to protect state secrets has been in the works for more than two years and could be submitted to the Council of Minister for review in two months’ time, a senior police official said yesterday. ...

Corruption watchdogs yesterday called on the Cambodian government to stamp out corrupt practices within the public procurement process during the first public forum on the Kingdom’s Budget Law. Speaking at the forum at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Preap Kol, executive director of Transparency International ...

Anti-corruption groups say Cambodia needs to do more to curb the practice. Preap Kol, executive director of Transparency International Cambodia, told “Hello VOA” on Thursday that Cambodia is going the “right way,” but it needs to do more. ...

Hundreds of people gathered in Phnom Penh yesterday to mark the International Day to End Impunity, calling on the government to tackle the issue by reforming its court system. Speaking at the event at the capital’s Cambodiana Hotel, Preap Kol, executive director of Transparency International Cambodia, ...

Australian mining giant BHP Billiton has announced that it is in negotiations with the U.S. government to settle allegations of corruption abroad, which include claims that the company paid a $2.5 million bribe to Cambodian officials to secure exploration rights in the country’s northeast. ...

Senior opposition lawmaker Son Chhay has formally requested that the entire staff list of the National Assembly’s more than 1,000-strong secretariat be turned over to him for investigation as part of a bid to root out “ghost” workers and nepotistic appointments. As part of his one-man ...

A Ministry of Commerce official said in a speech last week that the controversial draft cybercrime law was almost ready to appear before the National Assembly, though another government official dismissed this yesterday. At a conference on cybersecurity attended by representatives of the public and private ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen is set for a monthly salary hike of more than $900 as part of sweeping changes to senior government and high-ranking civil servant bonuses, according to a new sub-decree. The document, dated October 13 and obtained by the Post yesterday, states that ...

Luxury cars and fancy homes are among the lavish gifts Cambodia’s political and business elite shower each other with on special occasions but there are hints the government is moving to curb such excesses. Patronage has long been a problem in impoverished Cambodia, with bribery ...

Transparency International Cambodia yesterday presented findings of a recent scathing report on corruption to the newly formed parliamentary anti-corruption commission. ...

National Assembly President Heng Samrin has given himself the power to deny access to the assembly compound, including the offices of all lawmakers, to anyone not employed by the government and has barred all private citizens from testifying before—or sitting in on—assembly commission meetings. In ...

Om Yintieng, Chairman of Cambodia’s Anti-Corruption Unit, on Tuesday afternoon vehemently rejected an NGO report claiming that the country’s integrity system is weak and requires significant improvement. The official’s remarks came after the TI Cambodia, a branch of the Berlin-based TI, released its 233-page assessment ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday defended his government, saying its reputation for corruption is undeserved, laying blame on the private sector for initiating the bribe process and calling out international development partners for applying double standards. Speaking at the Eighth Regional Conference of Anti-Corruption Intiative for ...

The Ministry of Information is planning to begin regulating the Internet in the country to prevent offensive content from being posted online, ostensibly to prevent defamation and provocations to violence, according to a ministry official. ...

More than 2,000 volunteers will be deployed to observe students taking the national exam in August, the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) said Monday, with the deadline for registration expiring Tuesday. More than 93,000 students are registered to sit the August 4 to 5 exam at 154 exam ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) on Wednesday posted to its website a four-page document giving Public Works and Transport Minister Tram Iv Tek’s response to complaints of corruption within his ministry, including that the minister had awarded himself exorbitant bonuses. The ACU said in the document that ...

Transparency International (TI) Cambodia on Wednesday announced it would not be dispatching observers to independently monitor the National High School Exams on August 4 and 5 after the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) and Education Ministry said they would not allow reserve observers at exam halls. TI says ...

Cambodians may soon find it easier than ever to report official corruption, and not just to the authorities or their friends and neighbours, but to the whole world, thanks to the impending launch of a Khmer-language version of the graft-reporting smartphone app Bribespot. Already popular in ...

Transparency International Cambodia (T.I.) will next week launch an app for smartphones that allows users to log instances of bribery with the advocacy group. Bribespot, the work of a team of German computer programmers, will encourage users to share details of corrupt activity in real time, ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance on Monday announced the release of standardised bidding forms for public contracts, a measure it said would increase transparency and accountability, though the opposition and Transparency International Cambodia offered more cautious assessments yesterday. According to a state media announcement, the ...

When the 2007 Traffic Law was passed, it required that the myriad private vehicles on the road bearing Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) number plates be removed and switched with civilian plates within one year. But more than six years after this deadline, the sight of ...

The latest version of the government’s draft law on NGOs, which was approved by the Council of Ministers in January, is identical to an earlier version made available to civil society in 2011, with several outstanding concerns still intact, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights ...