Judge Says Cambodian Statue Case Can Go Forward

March 29, 2013, 
The New York Times

By TOM MASHBERG

 

A federal judge ruled Friday that the United States government has enough evidence to move forward in court with its effort to seize a 10th century Cambodian statue that Sotheby’s had hoped to sell for $3 million.

The auction house had asked United States District Court Judge George B. Daniels to dismiss the case.

The judge issued no opinion on the fate of the statue, but said the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York could add new information to original claims that Sotheby’s tried to sell the statue in violation of Cambodian law.

Sotheby’s had argued among other things that the federal lawyers had failed to provide evidence that Sotheby’s knew the statue was stolen.

“The government has sufficiently pled facts regarding Sotheby’s knowledge that the statue was stolen at the time of import into the United States,” Judge Daniels wrote. “The government need not provide unassailable proof to demonstrate Sotheby’s knowledge at this stage of the case.”

Sotheby’s said it still expects to prevail at trial.

“The Court’s decision,” the auction house said in a statement, “defers to another day all the key questions: whether Cambodia declared ownership of the statue with the clarity required by due process; whether the good faith purchase of the statue in 1975 defeats Cambodia’s claim, and whether Sotheby’s knew the statue belonged to Cambodia.”

The massive sandstone sculpture, depicting a mythic warrior called Duryodhana, once stood inside a small temple built within a sprawling 1,000-year-old complex of temples called Koh Ker.

Sotheby’s pulled it from auction in March 2011 after Cambodia asked for its return.

No court date has been set.