Officer Suspended Over Land Program Graft

A local police official in Ratanakkiri province has been suspended for demanding money from villagers before adding their names to a list of people eligible for Prime Minister Hun Sen’s new land-titling program, police and villagers said yesterday. A total of 1,100 student volunteers are being deployed throughout the country to demarcate land for villagers living inside state forest and on economic land concessions. But police in O’Yadaw district’s Som Thom commune demanded cash from ethnic Jarai villagers before agreeing to add their names to a list that would be given to the students, said community representative Romas Moeun. …