A Change of Guard

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Thursday 7 August 2008

UN reviews funds for genocide tribunal

August 7, 2008

Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal is facing new kickback allegations, prompting international donors to withhold at least $US300,000 ($A330,000) from the cash-strapped court.

The UN Development Program (UNDP), which oversees the finances of the Cambodian side of the court, said in an email to AFP that the new allegations arose in late June.

"UNDP is aware of new allegations of kickbacks on the Cambodian side of the court," the email said.

The agency said it was withholding funding for July, which includes operating expenses and salaries for Cambodian staff members, but it did not reveal the amount.

"UNDP is reviewing the implications with its donors so we can collectively agree how to move forward following the allegations," it added.

Helen Jarvis, spokeswoman for the tribunal, declined to comment on the allegations but confirmed that $US300,000 ($A330,000) in July salary for Cambodian staff had not been paid yet.

"We are hoping and expecting that the situation will soon be resolved. Of course both national and international staff deserve to be paid for their work," Jarvis said.

The new corruption allegations emerge as the court is preparing for its first trial, set to begin in September with proceedings against Kaing Guek Eav, also know as "Duch", who ran a notorious torture centre in Phnom Penh.

International backers have appeared hesitant to pledge more money to the court after allegations of political interference and mismanagement, including claims that Cambodian staff paid kickbacks in exchange for their jobs.

But court officials have said last year's allegations were "unspecific, unsourced and unsubstantiated".

The tribunal, which opened in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between the United Nations and Cambodia, was originally budgeted at $US56.3 million ($A61.9 million) over three years.

If trials of the five Khmer Rouge officials currently detained go on longer than expected or if more people are prosecuted, court officials said the budget could swell to $US105 million ($A115.5 million), with cases running to December 2010.

Up to two million people died of starvation, overwork and execution as the communist Khmer Rouge dismantled modern Cambodian society in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during its 1975-1979 rule.

© 2008 AFP

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