Cambodian police, defence officials charged with attempted bribery
Vorn Veasna, who served as deputy police chief of Battambang province's Bavel district, is in Prey Sar prison awaiting trial on serious bribery charges. - FB via PPP/ANN
PHNOM PENH: A deputy police chief from Battambang province and an official from the Ministry of National Defence have been sent to Prey Sar Prison in connection with an attempted bribery scheme involving over US$770,000 from Thai nationals.
The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) detained Vorn Veasna, who served as deputy police chief of Bavel district, Battambang province, and Tang Samnang, also known as Sok Chansamnang, an assistant to the deputy director-general of the defence ministry's General Department of Technical Materials, on May 23.
The two were found to have colluded in an attempt to extort US$774,000 in bribes to secure the release of 43 Thai nationals who were detained by authorities for illegally working in Cambodia.
ACU spokesperson Soy Chanvichet told The Post that the arrests stemmed from a joint operation by a task force from the National Police General Commissariat on May 2, which investigated the 43 Thai nationals in Poipet town, Banteay Meanchey province.
From May 4-6, Veasna and Samnang are alleged to have conspired to collect US$774,000 in bribes to facilitate the release of the 43 detained individuals. However, their plan failed, and the 43 Thai nationals were deported from Cambodia on May 8.
Chanvichet stated that the actions of the suspects constituted elements of the crime of attempted bribery, as stipulated in the Anti-Corruption Law and the Criminal Code.
Additionally, Veasna, who deposited money received from the bribery scheme into a bank and used it, is also implicated in the offense of money laundering, according to Chanvichet.
Four of their accomplices, who are currently at large, have also been charged with attempted bribery.
The two suspects were detained by the ACU on May 23 and were sent to Prey Sar Prison for temporary detention by the court on May 26 after the Phnom Penh municipal court charged them with attempted bribery.
Yang Peou, secretary-general of the Royal Academy of Cambodian, believed that law enforcement officers who violate the law pose a serious threat to the nation.
'Committing corrupt acts with foreigners who violate the law in Cambodia is like destroying Cambodia's reputation and dignity on the international stage. Corrupt officials harm the Kingdom's foreign policy. Secondly, it undermines the national economic system and fosters other negative activities in Cambodia,' he said.
He compared such bribery to the actions of the mafia and reiterated the importance of rooting out wrongdoing by those who are responsible for enforcing the law. - The Phnom Penh Post/ANN
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