Defamation suits follow NGO report

25 November 2013
The Phnom Penh Post
Civil society / Economic land concessions and plantations / Forest products / Human rights / Judiciary and courts / Land / Law and judiciary / Logging and timber / Public land lease / Social development
Cambodian Human Rights Task Force / CHRTF / Kandal Provincial Court / MDS Import-Export Company / Ouch Leng / Sam Rithy Veasna / Tycoon Try Pheap

Tycoon Try Pheap has filed a defamation complaint against two people quoted in an NGO report released last week that accused him of illegal logging and widespread land grabbing, summonses obtained yesterday reveal.

The documents, bearing the signature of Kandal Provincial Court prosecutor Sam Rithy Veasna, are dated Friday.

This is only two days after the Cambodian Human Rights Task Force alleged in a report that Pheap’s land empire, built on government concessions, had expanded to more than 70,000 hectares, displacing at least 1,445 families and facilitating an illegal-logging syndicate.

Sen San and Ouk Sambo, from Kandal province’s Kandal Stung district, close to where Pheap has a residence, have been ordered to appear for questioning in the provincial court on Friday morning. …

CHRTF director Ouch Leng, who compiled the report, said the summonses were an example of the company trying to use the courts to threaten those who spoke “the truth”. …

 May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/defamation-suits-follow-ngo-report