Rice Trader Claims Being Wrongly Fined Bad Scale to Measure Her Truck

A rice trader on Monday filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Unit, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cabinet and three ministries alleging that officials in Kompong Cham province had wrongly fined her for an overweight truck after using improperly weighted scales. Saing Darlin had her truck impounded by public works officials in Tbong Khmum district on December 2 as she was trying to transport 23 tons of paddy rice to the Vietnamese border from Siem Reap. Officials have refused to return the vehicle unless she pays a fine of 6.13 million riel, or about $1,500. “I brought rice amounting to 23 tons and my empty truck weighs only 16 tons, so the weight of the entire truck was around 38 or 39 tons. But they weighed my truck and found that it was 45 tons,” she said. “They exploited me by using their scale to measure my truck and finding that it was 45 tons.” … Chhay Savuth, vice president of the Anti-Corruption Unit, said the unit would review the complaint. “If the [truck owner] was asked to pay a fine based on the law, it doesn’t matter. It would be a corruption law if the payment was sought contrary to the law,” he said. …

 Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/rice-trader-claims-being-wrongly-fined-bad-scale-to-measure-her-truck-49631/