Cambodia's ghost workers get immunity

Radio Australia

Updated November 23, 2010

The Cambodian Government says it won't be pursuing senior officials who covered up tens of thousands of fake workers on the national payroll.

Audits this year found 30-thousand people to be so-called "ghost workers", meaning a salary was paid, even though the employee didn't show up for work.
The practice has been widespread in the government, police and military with senior officials usually pocketing the bulk of their salaries.

Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speakers: Phay Siphan, spokesman Cambodia's Council of Ministers; Liao Ran, senior program coordinator for East Asia, Transparency International

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COCHRANE: When it comes to getting rid of fake civil servants, policemen and soldiers, the Reform Department of Cambodia's Ministry of Finance is the country's Ghost Worker Busters.

Phay Siphan is the spokesman for Cambodia's Council of Ministers.

SIPHAN: Well the ghost employee, we don't need them. We've got to pay the real ones. We don't pay the ghosts.

COCHRANE: Ghost workers might sound spooky but in fact they're just another way corrupt officials skim money from their Government.

Liao Ran is the senior program coordinator for East Asia at the corruption watchdog, Transparency International. He says ghost workers are by no means unique to Cambodia.

LIAO: Actually its quite common in many poor countries, like in African countries and in some of the South Asian countries. The senior managers want to creat an income for themselves even though those workers they never existed or they have left the jobs. But then the senior management they kept such a secret list to create income for themselves.

COCHRANE: In many cases, the phony employees go on to take second jobs, often using their position as a fake civil servant, policeman or soldier to give them more sway in their second position.

Sometimes the worker will get a small percentage of their original wage, but it's their bosses who take the majority of their monthly salary.

Liao Ran says the arrangement can cost the governments of poor countries like Cambodia millions of dollars.

LIAO: Thirty thousand ghost workers, their average salary is between US$90 to US$120 per month so you can calculate how much loss to the State Treasury.

COCHRANE: The Cambodian government has not said how much money the ghosts were costing, but using Mr Liao's figures, the fraudulent payments would add up to between US$32 million and US$43 million a year.

It took more than 15 years of resisting international pressure for Cambodia to pass an Anti-Corruption Law - which happened in March this year.

In May, the government announced it had found 2,000 ghost workers on its books and last week a further 28,000 were revealed.

But when it comes to uncovering the next layer of the corruption - the senior managers who created or at least covered-up the network of ghosts - Council of Minister's spokesman Phay Siphan says that's not a priority.

SIPHAN: The government [is] not in a position to put the blame on anyone but [wants to] maintain the system. It [is] providing best service to the people."

COCHRANE: Liao Ran from Transparency International.

LIAO: I'm not surprised at his reaction because in Cambodia now, first when they have the Anti-Corruption unit, the more important task is looking forward rather than witch-hunting to find something back before. But I think the deeper reason is, those people who fabricate this ghost list they might be [in] very high positions. Therefore, the other people, especially the Anti-Corruption Unit, might not be able to punish them.

COCHRANE: Cambodia ranks down at 154 out of 178 countries on Transparency International's corruption list for 2010.

While critics say the newly-established Anti-Corruption Unit is weak and unlikely to tackle high-ranking corrupt officials, this clean-out of 'ghosts of governments past' could be a boost for Cambodia's efforts to be seen as fighting corruption.