News
Cambodia's tax revenue totals $683 million
The Cambodian government collected $683 million in taxes over the first 11 months of this year, according to data from the General Department of Taxation released last week. An economist said the increase in domestic tax revenue emphasised that Cambodia still has room for improvement in ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012121160203/Business/tax-revenue-totals-683-million.html
ADB Report Links Corruption, Political Culture in Cambodia
The government is beset with high-level corruption, a lack of transparency in public procurements, poor auditing practices and political interference in the country’s main anti-corruption body, a report produced by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) sent to the media yesterday states. In a 66-page report that ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/adb-links-corruption-political-culture-6525/
Cambodia Least Competitive in Region on Global Index
Cambodia is the one of the least competitive countries in the region, hampered by corruption, a poorly educated workforce and inefficient government, according to a recent study. The annual Global Competitive Index, conducted by the World Economic Forum, showed a large uptick in reported corruption for ...
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/cambodia-least-competitive-in-region-on-global-index/1559776.html
Cambodia Retains Its Reputation for Corruption
Cambodia continues to rank among the most corrupt countries in the world and much needs to be done to enforce the Anti-Corruption Law and investigate allegations of corruption, Transparency International (T.I.) Cambodia said yesterday. According to T.I.’s 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Cambodia ranked 157th among ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-retains-its-reputation-for-corruption-6475/
Cambodia, Among Others, Feeding China's Demand for Timber
The growing market for timber in China is leading to widespread logging around the world, including in Cambodia, according to a report released yesterday. The report from London-based NGO the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) – entitled Appetite for Destruction: China’s trade in illegal timber – outlines ...
Land disputes to dominate next year's election
Land disputes are expected to be a hot issue in next year’s election, overshadowing perennial issues such as illegal immigration, destruction of forests, corruption, and unemployment. Prime Minister Hun Sen himself has acknowledged that the government’s failure to resolve the issue will mean handing ammunition to ...
Rare hardwood sparks gunfights, corruption in Asia
KOH KONG, CAMBODIA — A Thai force dubbed the “Rambo Army” couldn’t stop the gangs, armed with battlefield weaponry, as they scoured the forests. Neither could a brave activist, gunned down when he came to investigate. Nor, apparently, can governments across Southeast Asia. The root of the ...
http://www.bradenton.com/2012/11/24/4291081/rare-hardwood-sparks-gunfights.html
Asean declaration allows Cambodia to flout human rights, warn campaigners
Human rights groups in Cambodia fear a new south-east Asian declaration of human rights could conversely offer the government in Phnom Penh a figleaf to clamp down on dissent. Cambodia signed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) human rights declaration on Sunday, two days ...
Riot Police Stop March on Last Day of Summits
A group of roughly 100 anti-eviction protestors were blocked by riot police yesterday from marching to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Peace Palace to appeal to U.S. President Barack Obama for help in reforming Cambodia’s land rights policy. The protest, which took place at the Boeng Kak ...
Corruption targeted by $2.5 million program
Transparency International Cambodia is set to step up its presence in the Kingdom with the launch of a $2.5 million three-year program to monitor and record corruption. On a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 10 (very clean), Cambodia ranks 2.1, according to the organisation, ...
Obama to meet with Cambodia’s longtime ‘strongman’ amid rights concerns, but also growth
President Barack Obama arrives in Cambodia on Monday having just won four more years in office, but that is nothing compared to his host, Hun Sen. The 60-year-old Cambodian prime minister has held power since Ronald Reagan was in the White House, and says he’s ...
China's Aid to Cambodia Helps Cement Ties
When Asia-Pacific leaders gather this weekend in Southeast Asia—a bright spot in a sputtering global economy—their Cambodian hosts may extend a warm welcome to U.S. President Barack Obama, but they will view officials from Beijing as old friends. Mr. Obama’s visit to Cambodia—this year’s host for ...
Chun Han Wong
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324595904578120582308358540.html
Corruption Continues To Stymie Development, Transparency Advocate Says
Corruption remains a major impediment to Cambodia’s development, but the systemic practices associated with it can be curbed if the government takes serious action, a transparency advocate says. Preap Kol, executive director of Transparency International Cambodia, told VOA Khmer in a studio interview recently that Cambodia ...
Tax revenue up from 2011
Cambodia collected $633 million in taxes over the first 10 months of this year, a 31 per cent rise from $483 million over the same period last year, according to the General Department of Taxation. However, an opposition watchdog claimed the amount is still far ...
P Vihear officials under investigation
Two senior officials in Preah Vihear under investigation by the Anti-Corruption Unit have been removed from their posts, including a tax officer who it is alleged had gotten away without officially stamping tax forms for an entire year, the ACU announced on Friday “We found that ...
Cambodia to Resume International Adoptions on January 1
Cambodia will allow inter-country adoptions to resume from January 1 next year, four years after the government stopped adoptions amid claims of corruption and baby selling, government officials confirmed yesterday. Speaking after a meeting with Susan Jacobs, the U.S. State Department’s special adviser on children’s issues, Secretary of ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-to-resume-international-adoptions-on-january-1-4934/
Phnom Penh Clerk Charged With Taking $250K
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday charged one of its own clerks [Kruoch Borath] with breach of trust for taking $250,000 dollars that was paid to the clerk to facilitate a speedy trial without “problems,” officials said. [Another clerk for Judge Lim Meng] Mr. Khen ...
Credit bureau makes doing business easier
A report released by the World Bank on Tuesday highlighted Cambodia as the most improved country in terms of businesses getting credit, due to the establishment of the country’s first credit bureau in March. Cambodia ranked 133 out of 185 in the World Bank’s report, up from 141 ...
Health Woes Speed Fraud Appeal
After calls from their lawyers late last month to speed up the appeals process, three former advisers to Senate President Chea Sim convicted of fraud last year will appear before the Appeals Court on November 7, court deputy prosecutor Tan Senarong said yesterday. The three defendants ...
Sonando Verdict a Tough Test for KRT Legacy
When the international community hammered out a hard-fought deal with the government in 2001 for a war crimes tribunal to try the most senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime, they hoped their efforts would also set an example for local court system riddled with ...
Rapid Reaction Unit Spokesman Blasts Critics of Hun Sen
A senior government spokesman held an impromptu press conference at the Council of Ministers yesterday to defend Prime Minister Hun Sen against critics and accused the U.N.’s human rights envoy to Cambodia [Surya Subedi] of being biased in his assessment of the country’s electoral process. In ...
Shots fired at me, says Tep Kolap
In a bizarre series of events, only days after being vindicated by the Supreme Court, Phnom Penh International University rector Tep Kolap claimed to have been chased across Phnom Penh yesterday evening by men who shot at her car as she sought refuge in Prime ...
Land Issues Are Dominating Talks Between Citizens, Lawmakers
Land conflicts, discrimination, corruption and inequality dominated discussions between citizens and lawmakers at forums across the country this year, according to the U.S.-based organization the National Democratic Institute (NDI). In its annual report, obtained yesterday, the NDI noted “significant consistencies in the concerns facing Cambodians across ...
Cambodia's Anti-Corruption Unit receives 800 complaints in 8 months
Cambodia’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has received about 800 corruption-related complaints in the first eight months of this year, exceeding the whole last year of only 700 cases, Om Yintieng, ACU’s Chairman, said Thursday Cambodia is riddled with bribery and corruption. The Government of Cambodia sees corruption ...