Six Questioned Over Tonle Sap Reservoirs

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday questioned six people, including a provincial director of water resources and a commune chief, over allegations that they cleared part of a flooded forest in Kompong Thom to illegally construct reservoirs on the Tonle Sap. Earlier this month, military police confiscated a dozen excavators from a farming cooperative in Stong district run by a newly elected CPP commune chief in Samprorch, Peanh Poul. He, along with provincial director of water resources Cheat Syvutha and four farmers—Meng Phally, Theang Thea, Thav Tum and Yuk Kimlen—were arrested Tuesday for their alleged illegal encroachment, said Brigadier General Sear Sambath, deputy chief of the national military police’s investigation and research commissariat. …