Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
Friday, 23 December 2011
The Phnom Penh Post
A former military official accused of pretending to be an aide to Anti-Corruption Unit chief Om Yentieng (pictured) in order to extort money from police officers and other officials confessed to the crimes in the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday.
Chea Sopheap, a former major in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, was charged with fraud and creating a false identity as a public official after allegedly extorting amounts as high as US$3,000 from high-level provincial police and government officials across the country.
Chea Sopheap, also known as Chea Sovannarith, told the court he had learned the trick from a journalist named Neng who previously worked for the “Nation Newspaper” but had since disappeared.
“I decided to ask for money from these people because I had known that they had been involved with corruption or other irregular activities,” he said.
“So I faked my identity to be the anti-corruption unit’s officer and used the influence of His Excellency Om Yentieng to do it.”
Chea Sopheap then conceded that he had made mistakes and requested a pardon.
Presiding judge Oeung Seang told the court Chea Sopheap had extorted many thousands of dollars from officials, including Mondulkiri governor Chan Yoeun, Battambang province police chief Sor Theth and Kampot province deputy police chief Col Thlang Phirin.
“He used the name of His Excellency Om Yentieng, who is the president of the Royal Government of Cambodia’s Anti-Corruption Unit, in collecting money from many police officials and government’s officials in cities and provinces in Cambodia,” he said.
Chea Sophea was arrested at an ACLEDA Bank branch in Prampi Makara district on September 12 after Col Thlang Phirin complained that the accused was attempting to extort $3,000 from him.
Col Thlang Phirin’s assistant, Yi Kear, said that four days before, Chea Sopheap had begun repeatedly calling his boss claiming he worked with Om Yentieng and needed money to buy cement for the construction of a military training school in Kampong Speu province for the Prime Minister’s Bodyguard Unit.
Thlang Phirin prepared a plan to arrest Chea Sophea after a call to Om Yentieng confirmed that he did not work with the ACU chief.
“He was arrested by police when he went to receive $1,000 from the victim at the ACLEDA Bank near City Mall market,” Yi Kear said.
A verdict in the case is scheduled for December 27.
Om Yientieng and ACU spokesman Keo Remy could not be reached for comment yesterday.
8 comments:
Good story!
The tragedy is that all these officials paid bribes to the betrayer because they all are corrupt people.
The second tragedy is that the POST did not mention this.
Kick all these corrupt officials out of the power!
They even do believe that the ACU is corrupted, why else they paid?
Banana Kingdom of wonder.
I believe that Om Yintieng did ask this advisor to blackmail other officials or extort money from them or else they will be accused of corruption. However, when he got caught, Om Yintiengg denied that he is his advisor. The only way to know is to check the payroll to see if this guy Chea Sopheap is on the payroll of ACU. I believe that in order to exonerate himself of corruption, Om Yintieng has sacrificed Chea Sopheap, the same as Sok An has sacrificed Sean Visoth from the Khmer Rouge Tribunal when he was accused of corruption by asking all KR Tribunal employees to give part of their salary to Sean Visoth in order to give to Sok An. In Cambodia, the forestry officials are the one who committed illegal logging themselves, and there is no different with the Anti-Corruption Unit. Om Yintieng is supposed to fight corruption, but instead he is the one who is there to commit corruption and extort money from other officials or they will be accused of corruption. This is bad.
He was caught doing extortion from the officals who are suspected involved in corruption and illicit questionable activities. That is there on the bull eyes remark!!!
If Mr.Yientieng is a man of serious task oriented and a man of honor and integrity, he would not stop at Chea Sopheap case, but go further to querstion those pople who Mr. Chea sophaepa extorted money. There are some evidences there. Why they decided to give him money...
អាត្មាថាយ៉ាប់មែនគឺវាយ៉ាប់មែន!
ធ្លាប់បួសរៀន៣០ឆ្នាំជា មហានិកាយ ធ្លាប់ហៅតោ ថា
តោ តោ ដល់សង្គ្រាជប្រែចិត្តមកជាធម្មយុត្តិវិញ
នំអាកោ ក្លាយជា ចង្វាក់ អាគោគោ
រំបល់វាយក៍ ដាច់ម៉ូយដាច់ម៉ា ដា់ច់ ដុល្លៀរ
អាត្មៀ អស់។
Most of the people are bias against the Gov. Most of the time they pointed the fingure at the corrupted official, but they never talked about the people who gave the money to the official.
I think it is time for news media to focus on both sides of the spectrum here if you want clean up the society.
It is the same tactic that was use with the drug dealers and corrupted official in the US.
It is an on going process to garranty the fairness in the country.
RCAF's commanders illegally logging...Do somthing Om Yeingtieng!!!!
If Cambodia wants to succeed in fighting corruption,the need to prosecute "all parties" of the law breakers is required. The individual who offer the bribe,the corrupted one who take the bribe and especially the one who sought the bribe. They are all criminals with different degrees.
Seeking the truth and seeking justice for yourself and others without discrimination or preference.
We shall not allow confusion or ambiguity in any cases for instant between the case of a half full and a half empty glasses, even though they are look the same and it has nothing to do with the mentality of the on looker.
Do not compromise on the risky meaning or trust your sensory perception of your eye to judge whether a glass is a half full or a half empty.
Determine the initial state of the glass. If it started with an empty or small amount of liquid then you say that the glass is half full. However if someone poured the liquid out of a full glass or near full glass to the mid point of it content then the glass is a half empty.
Enjoy your motor bicycle. As a good judge and making of less than US $10,000 annual salary, who gave you that Lexus ?
The Anti Corruption Unit or the OM Yinteang Unit cannot solve any problem relate to the rampant corruption.
What it can do is just a " Quick Fix"
to decorate Hun Sen Corrupt regime.
You need to revise the system to solve the global problem.The OM YIN Unit is not neutral. It has been created by HS and under HS influence.
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