"The Kingdom of"/ Part Nine: "Cambodiana"/Fragment I

Dear Friends,

THE WORLD CUP FINAL!!!!! Congratulation to Spain Soccer team and to all fans as Spain won the World Cup with the right kind of football. No one can argue that its tense 1-0 extra time victory over the Netherlands wasn't deserved.

Thank you very much for the interest in my book and for the number of letters I had received from you.
Also, please be advised that the full version of my book "The Kingdom of" will be exclusively posted on the site of Cambodia Business Network at: http://www.cambodiabusinessnetwork.com/ Blog of Gregory Shukhman

Read the Kingom of -part eight.

Part Nine: Cambodiana

Fragment I

My first experience with eighteen hours flying time, to Bangkok, was OK, I just felt sorry for the people, with the obvious difference, who had not be able to get a seat in the business class. I was able to rest enough and had time to do some homework in order to be prepared for upcoming meeting with Mr. Armao.

All the time, being surrounded with an excellent services for the business class, provided by Thai airline staff, which kept me happy during the whole flight. But still, eighteen hours is really long time to be in the air, and I admire people who chose this profession to serve others while flying.

At my arrival in Bangkok, I realized that the departure time of my connecting flight to Phnom Penh left me just a few hours to explore the Suvarnabhumi International Airport. There the colorful windows of duty-free shops, with all the most famous brands, reminded me some of the fragments of recent New York and its Fifth Avenue, and forthwith brought me to the sadness of parting with my family. In a moment, holding my cell phone tightly leaning against the ear, I had the good fortune and happiness to hear their voices and allay their anxiety by telling them that I had arrived safely. The conversation was not as long as we wanted due to high roaming costs, but still for a moment, feeling the warmth coming from the phone, I was able to hear the voices of my loved ones, which filled me with a source of positive energy, strength of mind, and a good spirit.

After being struck with the light of energy, and remaining in a good mood, I continued my journey to search some gifts for my new friends in Cambodia.

My great beginning of continues pleasure had started as soon as I arrived at the Phnom Penh International Airport. My brothers Bunnaroeun, Vladimir, and Murat were all waiting for me as I exited the ramp. Together with them was an officer whose face I did not recognize. He looked like an officer of the air force, with the aiguillette hanged on the right chest and attached to the right shoulder strap. He immediately took my luggage at the command of Bunnaroeun. At first I didn’t want to burden this officer with my luggage out of respect for an officer's uniform, but I eventually gave in to the command of my brother. Afterwards, I found myself surrounded by my friends.

When we arrived at the Cambodiana hotel, I was graciously greeted by their friendly staff. I was very satisfied with my choice of hotel since the atmosphere it projects is quite relaxing. My brothers Vladimir and Murat, also known as Vovchik and Murchik, including Bunnaroeun, also decided to stay in the same hotel as well, which was actually better since it would be easier to coordinate the arrival of Mr. Armao.

We all had connecting rooms, with a nice view of the Mekong River. We also had access of view to a swimming pool and a patio.

While unpacking my luggage, I also distributed my gifts to my friends. I also shared information about the business of Mr. Armao and his business dealings all over the world. Bunnaroeun then mentioned that his boss, the Senate President of Cambodia, is also very happy and eager to meet Mr. Armao to discuss business with him and his delegation on the next day, Saturday at 11:30 AM.

When we were left alone in the room with Bunnaroeun, I showed him my cell phone bill, because its extremely high cost - $4,500 - looked quite strange to me. I had checked that the calls were not calls I had made, and had found out that they had actually been made at the time when Bunnaroeun was in Massachusetts with my cell phone. I asked him to verify that all calls on the bill were calls he himself had made, as well as to confirm the length of conversations, some of which exceeded two hours.

Bunnaroeun carefully looked through and found that everything was correct. In general, the calls had been personal in nature and were not related to the business, so he asked me to add the phone bill to the rest of his debts, to which I agreed without any hesitation.

We had discussed the scenario of a formal meeting with Mr. Armao, and the protocol it would entail. Brother Bunnaroeun had everything arranged, leaving me to provide only the financing for the project, and giving me the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful evening at Cambodiana Hotel.

Brother Bunnaroeun, making sure that my English was good enough to communicate with the waiters, was forced to leave us for some time to complete the final preparations for the meeting with Mr. Armao.

So, I, Vladimir, and Murat remained in the Qba club, where we enjoyed the virtuosic playing of a talented Cuban guitarist.

Our table, which was located in a corner of the bar, offered us a complete panorama of everything that was happening in the bar; at the same time, the location did nothing to detract from the beautiful sound of Carlos’ guitar, who amazed us with his rendition of the legendary musical composition Bésame Mucho, a rendition more beautiful than any I had heard before.

As I enjoyed listening to the music, my attention was, like everyone else in the room, attracted to the thrilling dance of Argentine tango performed by a beautiful woman and her partner. Their movements and honed artistry, with which they conveyed the sense of passion inherent in the music of this dance, placed them clearly within the aristocratic society of ethical manners and education. This combination of music and dance lead me to the most remarkable evening of my life.

Our table and the entire room awarded the participants in this noteworthy performance with deserved applause and they responded with a glance of thanks.

Murat told me that the man who had been dancing, Oknha Kith Meng, was an owner of the Cambodiana hotel and a billionaire. That didn’t surprise me, as I had evaluated the hotel’s operation quite highly.

Vladimir and Murat with their youth and exotic appearance, managed to combine their mood with that of the manager of a bar, a young girl from Germany. My knowledge of English was very useful and soon coherent conversation filled the room with laughter. Next we were joined by guitarist Carlos, which made our table even more special.
Soon, the hotel owner’s assistant came to our table, who spoke excellent Russian, and he talked about his studies in the USSR at the circus school. Continuing in good spirits and good-natured nostalgia for the last years of his studies, he told us his favorite Russian song, “Ochi Cherniye, Ochi Zhguchiye” ("Dark Eyes”). In turn, Carlos picked up the melody on his guitar. The spontaneous scenario created an energetically positive aura, where all participants, including guests and the staff, received a charge of positive energy, which is necessary for human happiness.

The hotel owner, Oknha Kith Meng, sent a bottle of Champagne to our table as a sign of friendship, and we gladly accepted. When he retired from the bar, followed by his associates, he passed our table and we were able to thank him for a beautiful evening, and the gift.

Since there was no need to leave a hotel the next day, and as all expected meetings were within the hotel area, I had the opportunity to spend a day with the health benefits of enjoying the swimming pool and having fresh juices from the bar at the patio.

Bunnaroeun had reported that he was able to arrange meetings for Mr. Armao with the President of Senate, the Ministry of Finance, the National Bank of Cambodia and the Ministry of Tourism, as long as I intended to present Mr. Armao with the much more possible potential investment offerings of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

In addition, Bunnaroeun had offered a possibility of meeting with The King of Cambodia, Norodom Sihamoni, if we decided to give any kinds of donations. One option was to buy rice for the hungry, and thus to provide famine relief. Mr. Rabinovich had also at his last visit donated $50,000 for the construction of two new schools. Such a project would cost us $15,000 with the real value of $25,000, as long as Bunnaroeun was a leader of Cambodia People’s Party, he would have a fair discount from the seller.

I must confess, I agreed at once, without thinking about it for very long. First, because it is a very noble goal, to help the poor, and second, the meeting with the King would be a great honor, especially if it coincided with the visit of Mr. Armao, to discuss which services and government posts would give us more confidence in the course of the future by attracting financial investments. I agreed to the meeting, and mentioned that I would need to stop by the bank and withdraw some necessary funds. I did exactly what Bunnaroeun wanted, and gave him a sum of $15,000 in order to purchase some rice, which would be needed to prior a meeting with the King

An honorable procession, of that charity event, was expected at the Royal Palace with the presence of the King, where the bags of rice would be stacked outside. After the King’s blessings, the rice would be given to the poor. I could not wait for that day, as I counted the hours until Mr. Armao’s arrival.

On Friday morning, January 19, 2007, we had confirmed that the private jet of Mr. Armao would arrive from Singapore at 5:40PM at Phnom Penh International Airport.

Since everything was ready for the meeting with Mr. Armao, we stayed at the hotel and had a few meetings which Bunnaroeun had arranged.

One meeting was at noon with a Cambodian seller from a plantation of rubber trees and a potential Vietnamese buyer. The entire deal was about fifty million dollars, and Bunnaroeun offered his assistance in the selling procedures. He introduced me as an American partner, and I was honored, but at the same time I struggled to get a sense of such a deal and my functionality in it. Bunnaroeun had translated a conversation stating that a deal was agreed upon by both parties and it was about to be signed with the respect of our commission.

A person whom Bunnaroeun had introduced as our layer passed me his business card, which reads: “Asean International Law Group, Mr. Kang Rithkiry, Attorney at Law (Senior).”

Mr. Rithkiry, who had asked me to call him Mr. Kiri, happened to speak English, and he gave the impression of being an honest man and a competent lawyer. I offered my friendship to him, which he reciprocated.

The presence of Bunnaroeun, Mr. Kiri, as well as Vladimir and Murat, exactly lined up the structure of our future venture. That was planned and agreed that I will finance the project of forming a corporation in the Kingdom of Cambodia and proposing to use the name and business direction of my New York’s corporation Bon-Bon World with a future intention on Consulting and Investment.

Thus, the interest of the company was distributed as follows, as everyone had agreed; as long as planned for the future prospects to have an ownership of a land, for the purpose of carrying on promoted investment activities, with respect of Cambodian law, which said: “Ownership shall be vested only in natural persons holding Cambodian citizenship or in legal entities in which more than 51% of the equity capital are directly owned by natural persons or legal entities holding Cambodian citizenship”.

In this way, Bunnaroeun formally has 51% from the corporate stock; Mr. Rithkiry- 5%; Vladimir and Murat-10percentage and the rest of 34% belonged to me, as we agreed with Bunnaroeun to have formally an equal amount of shares at Bon-Bon World Corporation.

Mr. Kiri had offered his attorney’s assistance to legally form such a corporation in the Kingdom of Cambodia with an expense cost of $2,000 which I gladly paid him the said amount and announced as a corporate expense.

And the time to go to the airport arrived as the senatorial escort came at the Cambodiana hotel to drive us to the airport. On our way to the airport, flashing lights and sirens, which were turned on, to drive faster toward the meeting of Mr. Armao and his delegation.

At the airport, everything was ready. The Lady Protocol for the President of Senate met us outside the VIP area. We proceeded inside to check the presidential room for a supposed reception. I’ve seen around National Guards and some girls holding flowers. Therefore, everything was going well according to plans, it just left us to wait for less than 30 minutes for the jet of Mr. Armao to arrive at The Kingdom of Cambodia.