News

Cambodia is ripe for money-laundering and terrorist financing activities due to rampant corruption, banking-sector secrecy and an overall lack of financial transparency, a governance institute says in a report released this week. The Switzerland-based Basel Institute on Governance has ranked Cambodia the third “highest-risk” country out of 144 ...

Allegations that a senior government official in the Ministry of Planning stole thousands of dollars have been levelled in a complaint signed by more than 20 officials. But the director of the National Institute of Statistics, San Sy Than, defended Mech Kanthul, claiming the officials ...

Money laundering and drug-related crimes continue to be a major challenge in Cambodia due to a lack of enforceable legislation, endemic corruption and limited resources, according a new report by the US State Department. According to the 2012 International Narcotics Strategy Report, Cambodia continues to be ...

Cambodia Association of Travel Agents president Ang Kim Eang yesterday released a statement denying all allegations of wrongdoing against him by some members of the association’s board who have called for his resignation. Last Wednesday, 11 of CATA’s 15 board members signed and thumb-printed a petition ...

Despite recent protests by affected businessmen, the government last week began the removal of fishing nets in seven fishing lots in three provinces following alleged corruption during the bidding process for the lots. Prime Minister Hun Sen recently ordered the annulment of the results of an ...

The owner of a fishing lot in Kampong Cham province, whose bid for his lot was cancelled more than a week ago, has been attempting to keep villagers from fishing the area he previously laid claim to by destroying their equipment and sinking their boats. On ...

While crediting his efforts to quash illegal fishing with a surge in this year’s fish stocks, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that he would extend the closure of 35 large Tonle Sap lake fishing lots until 2014. Speaking at a road paving project inauguration in ...

About 60 businessmen from Kompong Cham province protested at the Agriculture Ministry yesterday over Prime Minister Hun Sen’s decision to cancel their bids to operate fishing lots. Mr Hun Sen on Friday annulled the results of an October bidding process for companies interested in operating fishing lots ...

After discovering that government officials had fixed a bidding process for companies interested in operating fishing lots on the Mekong River, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday annulled the results of the bidding and rescheduled it for next year. Speaking at a plenary session at the ...

Government Palace, the imposing gray headquarters of the Cambodia Development Council next to Wat Phnom, should be buzzing this morning with the country’s top foreign diplomats and government officials discussing aid and reform. Instead, with the government’s decision to indefinitely postpone this year’s Cambodian Development Cooperation ...

A Ratanakkiri Provincial Court prosecutor yesterday summoned an ethnic minority Jarai man in O’Yadav district to explain to the court his allegations that local authorities had threatened to kill him for exposing a land-sale corruption racket. Romas Chhvang, 45, filed a complaint to the court at ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday ordered Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun to explain irregularities that have taken place in the bidding process for licenses to operate fishing lots around the Tonle Sap lake. The order was carried out after Mr Hun Sen received a report from ...

For the fifth time in a row, Cambodia’s top investment partner, China, has been ranked among the most likely to pay bribes, according to an international corruption perception report published yesterday. Transparency International’s Bribe Payer’s Index classed China as second-to-last among 28 of the world’s biggest ...

Labour legislation in Cambodia is so weak and so often ignored that half the Kingdom’s children between the ages of seven and 14 participate in the workforce, the world’s largest federation of unions has told the World Trade Organisation General Council in Geneva. Children, women and ...

During the past four years, Cambodia has seen drastic decreases in rare species of trees due to illegal logging, community research from the National Resource Protection Group indicates. If continued unabated, illegal logging threatens to wholly deplete Cambodia’s rare tree species, Chut Wutty said. Cambodia’s ...

Eighty-five percent of U.S. companies in Southeast Asia plan to expand their business as the region will become more important in the next two years, the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Singapore said on Monday. “ASEAN continues to grow in importance for businesses in the ...

Weak enforcement of mining laws excludes local communities from the decision-making process and smudges the revenue transparency, said George Boden, a campaigner at watchdog group Global Witness. Weak enforcement of mining laws excludes local communities from the decision-making process and smudges the revenue transparency, said ...

KOH KONG, Cambodia (AP) — Round a bend in Cambodia’s Tatai River and the virtual silence of a tropical idyll turns suddenly into an industrial nightmare. Lush jungle hills give way to a flotilla of dredgers operating 24 hours a day, scooping up sand and piling ...

The government has brought into force a new law that makes all illegal payments to officials punishable by up to 15 years in jail for those who accept such payments and up to 10 years for those who make payments. Im Oudom, a member of ...

According to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks US officials in Bangkok believed that Prime Minister Hun Sen’s decision to name former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic adviser in 2009 backfired after it increased support of the opposition. The Premier at the time of ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has called corruption a “fundamental concern” for Cambodia even with the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) celebrating 10 months since its inauguration. The ADB’s Country Governance Risk Assessment Report and Risk Management Plan which is to be released soon calls for capacity ...

In order to comply with legislation that prohibits bribery of public officials logistics company FedEx has limited its inbound shipments to Cambodia to those valued under $300. Customs and CamControl officials regularly impose unofficial payments to facilitate the customs and excise process. FedEx, initially announced ...