Gov’t pins $275,000 in protest damage on CNRP
A government committee charged with assessing damage from the garment worker protests in December and January has put the value of the destruction at over $250,000. It places blame squarely on the opposition CNRP and a trio of union leaders. ... That committee’s report, released Thursday, values damage to public and private property in Phnom Penh—minus the garment factories themselves—at $275,688. It also says that GMAC calculates that the protests caused $72 million in damage to 95 of its member factories. This figure includes $42.2 million in lost production and $17.3 million in property damage. ... The report puts the death toll at four. Witnesses and rights groups say a 16-year-old boy is also missing and presumed dead after he was last seen on January 3 lying on the ground and bleeding heavily from a chest wound. Authorities claim no knowledge of his condition or whereabouts. The report also blames union leaders Rong Chhun, Yang Sophorn and Ath Thorn for urging garment workers to leave their factories and join the strikes. ... While the CNRP has so far avoided being sued over the protests, six union leaders, including the three in Mr. Kheng’s committee report, are being sued for damages by the factories. Ms. Sophorn, one of the six, dismissed the figures in the committee report. “The Ministry of Interior carried out the investigation and released the figures on the damages without participation from any independent body,” she said. “If the committee was independent, with independent investigators, I would agree.” ... GMAC lawyer Khieu Sambo said 177 factories have now joined the lawsuits against the unions and that the cases were still under investigation.
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-pins-275000-in-protest-damage-on-cnrp-55123/
