Detained British Biofuels Chairman Proclaims His Innocence
The British former Chairman of a troubled biofuel firm, who is in Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prision on forgery charges, has claimed he is the victim in the case for which he is awaiting trial. Gregg Fryett was arrested in Phnom Penh on March 23rd and charged by Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court after an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU). … In a statement Friday – which was made from Prey Sar Prison through London-based law firm Bark & Co – Mr. Fryett said that before arriving in Cambodia last month he was “given explicit assurances by the Cambodian Anti-Corruption Unit and the presiding judge that I was being treated as a victim and would be granted safe passage.” “I believe that, together with Mr. Ourm and Mr. Soeun, we are being detained further to an investigation to which it is quite clear we are a victim and the damaged party.” … The charges relate to a land deal in Svay Check district to develop a Jatropha plantation. Mr. Fryett claims millions of dollars were paid to Royal Cambodian Armed Forces General Hanh Chamrong, an agent, to buy the land from companies belonging to Mao Mally, the wife of former RCAF Commander-in Chief Ke Kim Yan. But the land was never transferred to Mr. Fryett’s companies. “I would reiterate that IGE and SAE entered into what we understood at the time to be clear contracts for the purpose of land use rights over 6,079 hectares of land in [Svay] Check,” Mr Fryett wrote. …
