PHNOM PENH POST, CAMBODIA – The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has summoned two journalists and their interviewees for questioning over statements which the unit perceived as “intentionally inciting opposition against the ACU”.
The statements relate to a corruption case in Kampong Thom province, which involves former public servant He Koeun.
According to the summons, shared by the ACU on February 3, the two journalists are Kong Kan from Kong Kan TV and Huy Udom from Oudom TV, while the two interviewees are Pech Chheng Im, the wife of the accused, and their daughter Sok Kunthea.
The four have been ordered to appear for questioning on February 6.
The questions are related to online interviews which were broadcast on January 4, in which the two women shared their dissatisfaction with the ACU’s handling of Koeun‘s case.
Koeun, the former head of the Economic and Urban Development Office of Stung Sen town, is being held in pre-trial detention on corruption charges.
During the 12-minute interview, Chheng Im alleged that the ACU had detained her husband for “six months” without resolution, on accusations related to land in the Tonle Sap’s Zone 3 and of receiving $380,000 from an unidentified individual.
She insisted that her husband had not benefitted from any illicit transactions.
Chheng Im claimed that Koeun had only followed orders from his superiors to sign off on land transactions, and alleged that her husband’s superior, a senior provincial official, was directly involved.
She claimed she did not have the courage to share his name.
The wife of the accused also suggested that two high-profile businessmen were implicated in the case, but declined to reveal their identities.
According to Chheng Im, the two wealthy landowners had previous disputes and had used her husband as a mediator, with one party ultimately succeeding in their claims. She believed this led to her husband being “targeted” unfairly.
She publicly appealed to Prime Minister Hun Manet, the Ministry of Justice, and the Kampong Thom Provincial Court to investigate the case and deliver justice to her family.
After viewing the interview, the ACU prepared 26 questions for Chheng Im, including inquiries about who advised her to give interviews and why she claimed that the ACU had detained her husband without evidence.
Her daughter Kunthea is required to answer seven questions.
The two journalists have been asked to provide answers to 22 questions, which range from details about their professional backgrounds to the classification of Zone 3, the protected flooded forest area around the Tonle Sap.
According to a July 28, 2024, statement from the Kampong Thom Provincial Court, Koeun’s case was transferred from the ACU to the provincial court on charges of deliberate destruction and illicit land transactions within the flooded forest zone of Kampong Thom.
Another suspect in the case, a farmer named Sae Song Heng, was charged with conspiracy to commit the same offenses. Both were detained under Article 601 of the Criminal Code and Article 32 of the Anti-Corruption Law.
On January 30, after receiving the ACU summons, journalists Kan and Udom submitted apology letters to the unit, acknowledging that their broadcasts had “caused public misunderstanding about the ACU”.
