The Phnom Penh Post
Accused secessionists to testify
Two more of the five accused secessionists from Kratie province’s Pro Ma village turned themselves in on Friday, Ministry of Interior officials said, just days after Hun Sen declared that he would drop charges against them if they testified against the plot’s masterminds. [Bun] Ratha ...
Land volunteers on way: PM
Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday 700 volunteers from the Cambodian People’s Party had fanned out across eight provinces to measure properties and provide titles to villagers who have been displaced by land disputes. Speaking to about 10,000 villagers in the Kroch Chhmar district of Kampong ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070257144/National-news/land-volunteers-pm.html
Chevron aims for 2016
Oil production in Cambodia may not begin until 2016, or at least three years after the originally appointed date, Chevron officials reportedly said at a Ministry of Environment meeting on Friday. Government officials yesterday confirmed the feasibility of the time frame. If Chevron Overseas Petroleum Cambodia gained ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070257137/Business/chevron-aims-2016.html
Koh Kong pagodas threatened
Prak Thon says he will give up everything to stop a Chinese company from destroying his pagoda in Koh Kong province’s Kiri Sakor district. “I’ll allow them to demolish my house, but I will not allow them to destroy the pagoda. I’m satisfied if I die, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070257150/National-news/koh-kong-pagodas-threatened.html
Free Trade Union breaks from ally
Free Trade Union president Chea Mony has announced that his union will leave the Cambodian Confederation of Unions and sever all ties with its long-time ally, the Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association. In a letter to Minister of Labour Vong Sauth, dated June 27 and obtained by ...
Regional courts of appeal on horizon
A new system of regional appeal courts is moving closer to reality as the Ministry of Justice attempts to resolve the bottleneck of appeals in the justice system, officials said yesterday. Currently, appellants can wait up to five years or more to have their cases heard ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070257145/National-news/regional-courts-of-appeal.html
Boutique hotels rising
An increasing number of boutique hotels are appearing in Cambodia and attracting foreign investment, insiders say, including a US$2 million investment in the Governor’s House, a newly opened, 10-room boutique hotel in Phnom Penh. The number of boutique hotels in Cambodia has increased rapidly, particularly in ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070257135/Business/boutique-hotels-cambodia.html
Garment Makers Gear Up for IPOs
Two foreign-owned garment manufacturers will submit disclosure documents to Cambodia’s capital market regulator next month, the companies’ underwriter Phnom Penh Securities Firm Plc. said yesterday. The initial public offerings for the two private companies, expected by the end of the year, should boost action on the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062957093/Business/garment-makers-gear-up-for-ipos.html
PPWSA shuffle no surprise
Officials and securities firms yesterday showed little distress at the imminent retirement of Ek Sonn Chan, the man credited with straightening out and preparing the capital’s public water utility for its initial public offering in April. A letter from the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy ...
http://Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority shuffle no surprise
Rice Millers to Increase Capital
Cambodian rice millers will increase their capital to purchase unmilled rice this season as bankers agreed to provide more loans, insiders said on Monday. Baitong will increase its capital to purchase up to 140,000 tonnes of fragrant unmilled rice, compared to last year’s 70,000 tonnes said ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062857068/Business/rice-millers-capital.html
Hun Sen Son Tapped for Land Dispute Role
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s June order that land be cut from economic land concessions and returned to displaced villagers – a move that has alternately inspired gratitude and scepticism – now has a high-profile public face: one of his sons. Hun Manith, deputy chief of Hun ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062857077/National-news/hun-sen-son-land-dispute.html
Cambodia Comforts Worried Summit
While the financial problems of Europe created a worried mood for the Group of 20 leaders at Los Cabos, Mexico, last week, a bright spot was Prime Minister Hun Sen’s representation of Cambodia’s ASEAN chairmanship, according to lawyer and government adviser Sok Siphana, who accompanied ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062757035/Business/cambodia-comforts-summit.html
Experts Question New Trade Goal with Vietnam
Officials and experts yesterday questioned the likelihood of Cambodia and Vietnam’s proposal to hike bilateral trade by more than US$2.5 billion by 2015. The pledge of $5 billion in total trade, made by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Tan Dung, last ...
PM Defends ELC Signings
Prime Minister Hun Sen has fiercely defended his right to grant economic land concessions after issuing a moratorium on the leases in May, pointing to a loophole in the ban which exempts ELCs that already had in principle approval. Hun Sen attacked the Post and the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062757048/National-news/pm-defends-elcs.html
Premier has deal for 'secessionists'
An alleged accomplice of “secessionist” leader Bun Ratha has confessed and been granted immunity as a witness, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday, a deal he left on the table for any of the four remaining fugitives who are willing to co-operate, including Ratha. Warrants for ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062757047/National-news/pm-deal-for-secessionists.html
Judgment day for B Kak 13
Thirteen Boeung Kak lake women who were sentenced to two and a half years in jail on Thursday following a lawyer-free trial that lasted just three hours will appeal their convictions, their distraught supporters said yesterday. As the reality of the trial, which rights groups have ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012052856427/National-news/boeung-kak-13-to-appeal.html
Ministry moves to create bus-monitoring prakas
A new inter-ministry prakas is planned that controls and ensures the safety of bus passengers using the Kingdom’s growing bus network, and may include monitoring the behaviour of drivers and companies prior to granting licences, Cambodian officials said. Bus companies are now controlled by Ministry of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062556985/Business/bus-monitoring-prakas.html
ACU donations in spotlight
Lawyers have called on Cambodia’s Anti-Corruption Unit to implement transparent reporting on monetary donations it receives from individual politicians and government groups. During an anti-corruption training session on Friday, they pointed out the incapacitating influence the ACU would face if it tried to investigate a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062556994/National-news/acu-donations.html
Inspiring tech entrepreneurship
The arrival of Startup Weekend in Cambodia marked a new beginning for high-tech entrepreneurship as more than 80 people worked on all kinds of new business ideas all weekend at Yellow Tower across the Tonle Sap from The Riverside. Chief Marketing Officer Joey Pomerenke of Startup ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062556987/Business/tech-entrepreneurship.html
Villagers, Soldiers Tussle Over Land
Villagers from Chum Kiri commune in Banteay Meanchey province appealed to Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday to intervene in a land dispute concerning roughly 30 hectares of land they say was taken by district soldiers. Doeu Chay, a representative of 25 local families, said that land ...
Cambodia's consumer prices decline
Consumer prices decreased month-on-month in May for the first time since statistics were available, Cambodia’s National Institute of Statistics (NIS) data showed. The 1.1 per cent drop, driven largely by lower food and gasoline prices, would be a relief to businesses and shoppers after a period ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062556991/Business/consumer-prices-decline.html
Prisoners 'utilised' in violent eviction
Twenty convicts in Preah Sihanouk Provincial Prison were employed by military and local authorities to tear apart a nearby village on land slated for a second prison compound, villagers and rights groups alleged yesterday. However, prison authorities denied that any incarcerated people were involved in the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062557001/National-news/prisoners-in-eviction.html
Hun Sen grants four economic land concessions
Prime Minister Hun Sen has signed off on four more economic land concessions (ELCs), all in protected areas, despite placing a moratorium on granting such leases on May 7. Since the May 7 sub-decree, the premier has now signed off on seven concessions totalling 56,586 hectares ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062557006/National-news/hun-sen-grants-elcs.html
Massive strike nearing: union
The Free Trade Union has vowed to stage a mass strike in the garment and footwear industries if its demands for an extra US$30 per month of bonuses for workers are not met, union president Chea Mony said yesterday. The union sent a letter to Minister ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062556997/National-news/massive-strike-nearing.html