Law and judiciary

The government marked World Drug Day on Sunday by setting fire to almost 1.5 tons of confiscated drugs in a schoolyard in Phnom Penh. Officials conceded that efforts to curb usage were failing, pointing to a lack of public knowledge and participation. ...

The Ministry of Health this week called for closer oversight of contract employees and acknowledged “inappropriate phenomena” in paperwork filed by mid-level officials, an admission that comes just over a month after evidence came to light of widespread graft at the Kingdom’s National Malaria Centre ...

A senior Education Ministry official, arrested for sexually harassing an interpreter while representing the government at an international conference in South Korea, has had his post terminated, the ministry announced yesterday. ...

Motorists who have not paid their tickets since the new traffic law came into force in January will be sent to court if they do not produce the cash in the next 15 days, according to the National Police.   ...

The National Commercial Arbitration Centre (NCAC) has received its second case since becoming fully operational in early 2014 – and has a lot riding on resolving the commercial dispute, its president said yesterday. ...

According to a Labor Ministry prakas, or official statement, both employers and employees will be responsible for paying 1.3 percent of an employees’ monthly salary to the government for state-supplied health insurance guaranteed to all workers under the Labor Law. ...

A Sihanoukville provincial coastal working group has ordered tycoon Kith Meng’s Royal Group to stop building a port on Koh Rong, saying the development was illegal. ...

Authorities say they have discovered irregularities among the 170,000 thumbprints the CNRP gathered in support of a petition seeking King Norodom Sihamoni’s intervention in the current political crisis, deputy National Police chief Kang Sokhorn said on Tuesday.   ...

Twenty-seven Chinese and Taiwanese nationals were arrested during a raid on a villa in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district on Monday on suspicion of operating an internet-phone scam, officials said.   ...

The Court of Appeal on Monday denied bail to four rights workers and an election official imprisoned in connection with a sex scandal surrounding deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha, upholding the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s decision last month.    ...

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a guilty verdict and 20-year prison sentence handed down to a former military general and an accomplice in 2013 for large-scale drug trafficking. ...

Activists behind the “Black Monday” protests said on Sunday they would demonstrate yet again today despite the threat of more arrests, this time in front of the Appeal Court, where four employees of rights group Adhoc and an election official will have their bail hearing ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen told a local media outlet on Sunday that the ruling CPP would not engage in any talks with the opposition CNRP over the jailing of its officials and supporters or recent moves by police to arrest deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha. ...

A representative of Bonna Realty Group said yesterday that the arrest of the company’s eponymous chairman on Friday on fraud charges stemming from a bounced cheque would have no impact on the business because it was purely a personal matter. ...

A newspaper publisher charged with murdering his friend in Phnom Penh last year told the municipal court on Thursday that his confession to military police was obtained through torture, but the presiding judge argued that such a claim would have “broken out” in the media ...

Police arrested a man in Koh Kong province on Friday for allegedly sexually assaulting his friend’s two young daughters over the course of a day and a night.   ...

Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana has never interfered in a judicial decision, he said during a speech in front of a half-vacant National Assembly yesterday. ...

The government has announced a new action plan to deal with the drug problem in Trapaing Chhouk, a slum in the capital’s Sen Sok district that has been an open market for drug use and distribution for over a decade.    ...

Seven years after Cambodia put a stop to its own international adoption programs, the Catalan regional government in Spain signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Social Affairs on Tuesday that will allow its residents to adopt Cambodian children.   ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has decided it will not take action over two complaints accusing acting Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) president Kem Sokha of financial fraud along with corruption allegations against four National Election Committee members. ...

The Justice Minister will verbally clarify laws and procedures relating to politicians and the judiciary in the National Assembly on June 9, despite requests by the opposition to cancel the session. ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) will unveil the first draft of its long-awaited whistleblower protection law next month, according to minutes of a May 30 meeting between the ACU and the National Council Against Corruption published on the unit’s website, but observers are not holding their ...

Police are searching for a gang of thieves who cut through the wall of a garment factory in Kompong Speu province on Thursday before making off with nearly 3,000 shirts, according to police.   ...

A community of ethnic Phnong people in Mondulkiri’s Keo Seima district has accepted a settlement from a Vietnamese rubber firm ending a five-year land dispute. ...