Raoul Jennar implies that Hor Nam Hong should be prosecuted

KHMER INTELLIGENCE NEWS

2 March 2009

Foreign expert implies Hor Nam Hong should be prosecuted (1)

In an interview in the February 19 edition of The Phnom Penh Post, foreign Khmer Rouge expert Raoul Jennar said: "The archives tell us that there were people, at the head of security centers, who ordered and supervised the massacre of hundreds and even thousands of Cambodians during the Democratic Kampuchea [Khmer Rouge] period. Some of these people live freely. Why do we only pursue the director of S-21 [Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch, the former chief of the Tuol Sleng notorious prison known as S-21] when there were 196 security centers across Cambodia? Justice is not choosing a few scapegoats to make an example of."

According to official Khmer Rouge documents from S-21, current Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong was the chief or "president" of another Khmer Rouge prison, the Boeng Trabek reeducation camp known as B-32. Hor Nam Hong publicly recognizes that he was the "president of a prisoner committee" at B-32.

Both S-21 and B-32 are listed among the 196 security centers.
Read full interview of Raoul Jennar at http://tinyurl.com/ap9srv

See the list of the 196 Khmer Rouge security centers (# 121 for S-21 and # 122 for B-32) at http://tinyurl.com/brfdvy

Real reason behind decision to crackdown on gambling dens (2)
Last week Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered a crackdown on sport and electronic gambling establishments. He condemned gambling as a social evil. But, since everybody fully knows that gambling is associated with rising crime, why has the government not only authorized but encouraged and promoted gambling activities in the first place? The gambling industry has been thriving in Cambodia since the early 1990's.

Actually the crackdown reflects Hun Sen's concern about who collects huge amounts of under-the-table money from gambling activities. It used to be Hok Lundy, the former National Police Director who died in a helicopter crash last November. Now the authority over the Police is in the hands of Interior Minister Sar Kheng who finds himself in a position to collect up to US$10 million a month of bribes from all sorts of gambling dens. Hun Sen's ongoing measures against gambling actually aim at reaching a new deal for the collection of illicit money from the gambling industry by different clans within the ruling CPP.

In a report titled "Casinos adapt to survive gaming ban" in today's Phnom Penh Post, the manager of a well-known gambling club, The Atlantic, said that his club contributed US$7,000 in taxes each month to the treasury [¡Ä and] US$5,000 on under-the-table payments to the local authorities.

Read The Phnom Penh Post article at http://tinyurl.com/clbcy9

Canadia Bank heading for bankruptcy (2)
As a result of the world financial crisis and general credit crunch, Cambodia's most prominent bank, Canadia, is in serious trouble and may be heading for bankruptcy. The IMF had warned in a report last month: "The global financial crisis has exposed vulnerabilities among Cambodia's banks and is beginning to affect their financial soundness." A World Bank annual report published also in February also raised concerns about the Cambodian financial sector, which is suffering from falling deposits, declining foreign capital, plummeting property prices and increasing nonperforming loans.

According to the IMF, poor compliance with reporting rules could mean Cambodian banks are even worse off than thought. Both the IMF and the World Bank warned that a number of banks were especially at risk. According to the IMF, "several large [banks] could face a large deterioration in credit quality and a need for recapitalization." According to the World Bank, "two large banks" are at serious risk from nonperforming loans. Industry sources have identified Canadia as one of the two banks given its overexposure to the property sector. Panicked clients are reportedly making non-stop withdrawals.

Bankrupt textile companies leave Cambodia without paying workers' salaries (1)

As a result of the global economic crisis an increasing number of foreign-owned textile companies have been declared bankrupt. They have abruptly laid off thousands of workers without paying their salaries. In order to defend workers' interest and to prevent social unrest, opposition members of parliament have written to the government suggesting that appropriate reserve funds be deposited by textile companies at the national treasury so as to secure payment of workers' salaries in case of bankruptcy.

Read the letter in Khmer at http://tinyurl.com/b9g6qu

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