Tue, Jun 02, 2009
AFP
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - Cambodia Tuesday rejected a US diplomat's reported statement that graft costs the country up to US$500 million every year, branding her assertion "politically motivated and unsubstantiated."
US ambassador Carol Rodley (pictured) made the allegation Saturday at a Phnom Penh anti-corruption concert, remarking, "five hundred million is equivalent to the cost of constructing 20,000 six-room school buildings," said a local report.
In a letter to the US embassy on Tuesday, Cambodia's foreign ministry said it "absolutely refutes the politically motivated and unsubstantiated allegation made by the United States diplomat."
The letter added that the US$500-million corruption figure was a "biased assessment" that came from an opposition party-linked economic institute.
Rodley's use of it, the letter said, was "in contradiction of the good relations between Cambodia and the United States."
Senior minister Om Yentieng, chairman of the government's anti-corruption unit, said in a press conference Tuesday that Rodley's allegation "strongly affects the honour and reputation of the Cambodian government."
"We have never said that there is no corruption in Cambodia.... But when saying that the level of corruption in Cambodia is so serious like the allegation, we cannot accept it," Om Yentieng said.
The US embassy was not immediately available for comment, but a 2004 report by the US Agency for International Development said informants estimated annual diversions from Cambodian government coffers at US$300 - US$500 million.
Donors pledged nearly one billion dollars in development aid to Cambodia last year despite strong concerns over rampant corruption and demands by rights groups that donors get tough on the government's apparent refusal to reform.
Cambodia's cabinet also issued a statement Tuesday saying Rodley's US$500 million figure was "regrettable" as well as a "groundless" allegation that it considered a "manipulation of the truth."
Cambodia bristles at US envoy's criticism of graft
Associated Press
3rd June, 2009
Taiwan News
Cambodia on Tuesday protested the U.S. ambassador's recent assertion that corruption saps the Southeast Asian country of up to $500 million a year that could otherwise be used for development.
U.S. Ambassador Carol Rodley said Sunday the lost money could be used to construct 20,000 six-room school buildings or pay every Cambodian civil servant an additional $260 a month.
Rodley, who was speaking at a concert to popularize the fight against corruption, also expressed the hope that a long-delayed anti-corruption law would finally be enacted this year.
In a letter to the U.S. Embassy, Cambodia's Foreign Ministry said it was "very much regrettable that a representative of a foreign government has made such an allegation based on a biased assessment and without any proof."
It said the $500 million figure was invented by a think tank, the Economic Institute of Cambodia, which it charged is associated with the political opposition.
But Cambodia has long been criticized by foreign donors for its high level of corruption.
In 2004, a study prepared for the U.S. Agency for International Development said that Cambodia lost an estimated $300 million to $500 million annually to various forms of corruption.
The independent anti-corruption watchdog group Transparency International perennially ranks Cambodia among the world's most corrupt countries. Its 2008 Corruption Perception Index Report placed the country at 169 out of 183.
The Foreign Ministry letter said that Rodley's statement was not in keeping with the good relations between Cambodia and the United States, and that the diplomatic corps "must maintain their neutrality and refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of Cambodia."
AFP
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - Cambodia Tuesday rejected a US diplomat's reported statement that graft costs the country up to US$500 million every year, branding her assertion "politically motivated and unsubstantiated."
US ambassador Carol Rodley (pictured) made the allegation Saturday at a Phnom Penh anti-corruption concert, remarking, "five hundred million is equivalent to the cost of constructing 20,000 six-room school buildings," said a local report.
In a letter to the US embassy on Tuesday, Cambodia's foreign ministry said it "absolutely refutes the politically motivated and unsubstantiated allegation made by the United States diplomat."
The letter added that the US$500-million corruption figure was a "biased assessment" that came from an opposition party-linked economic institute.
Rodley's use of it, the letter said, was "in contradiction of the good relations between Cambodia and the United States."
Senior minister Om Yentieng, chairman of the government's anti-corruption unit, said in a press conference Tuesday that Rodley's allegation "strongly affects the honour and reputation of the Cambodian government."
"We have never said that there is no corruption in Cambodia.... But when saying that the level of corruption in Cambodia is so serious like the allegation, we cannot accept it," Om Yentieng said.
The US embassy was not immediately available for comment, but a 2004 report by the US Agency for International Development said informants estimated annual diversions from Cambodian government coffers at US$300 - US$500 million.
Donors pledged nearly one billion dollars in development aid to Cambodia last year despite strong concerns over rampant corruption and demands by rights groups that donors get tough on the government's apparent refusal to reform.
Cambodia's cabinet also issued a statement Tuesday saying Rodley's US$500 million figure was "regrettable" as well as a "groundless" allegation that it considered a "manipulation of the truth."
Cambodia bristles at US envoy's criticism of graft
Associated Press
3rd June, 2009
Taiwan News
Cambodia on Tuesday protested the U.S. ambassador's recent assertion that corruption saps the Southeast Asian country of up to $500 million a year that could otherwise be used for development.
U.S. Ambassador Carol Rodley said Sunday the lost money could be used to construct 20,000 six-room school buildings or pay every Cambodian civil servant an additional $260 a month.
Rodley, who was speaking at a concert to popularize the fight against corruption, also expressed the hope that a long-delayed anti-corruption law would finally be enacted this year.
In a letter to the U.S. Embassy, Cambodia's Foreign Ministry said it was "very much regrettable that a representative of a foreign government has made such an allegation based on a biased assessment and without any proof."
It said the $500 million figure was invented by a think tank, the Economic Institute of Cambodia, which it charged is associated with the political opposition.
But Cambodia has long been criticized by foreign donors for its high level of corruption.
In 2004, a study prepared for the U.S. Agency for International Development said that Cambodia lost an estimated $300 million to $500 million annually to various forms of corruption.
The independent anti-corruption watchdog group Transparency International perennially ranks Cambodia among the world's most corrupt countries. Its 2008 Corruption Perception Index Report placed the country at 169 out of 183.
The Foreign Ministry letter said that Rodley's statement was not in keeping with the good relations between Cambodia and the United States, and that the diplomatic corps "must maintain their neutrality and refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of Cambodia."
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