geovalin

The number of Internet subscribers in Cambodia has gone up to 17.872 million last year from 8.099 million in 2016, a 120 percent increase compared to 2016, according to data from the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC). The Internet subscription surpassed the total population of the country which is 16 million. TRC stated that the mobile phone subscribers were 19,899 million in 2021, marginally down by 0.07 percent from 19,915 million subscribers in 2016. However, the subscription figures of mobile Internet users and fixed Internet users were not given separately. The rise in Internet penetration showed how fast the Cambodian people were embracing technology, as the trend of using smartphones for studies, shopping, and social networks is increasing, said Cambodia Digital Tech Association president Chhin Ken. The trend shows the increasing use of smartphones in Cambodia for Internet surfing, he said. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501085471/internet-users-go-up-120-percent-in-six-years/

Ms. Chhay Sivlin, President of the Association of Travel Agents of Cambodia, has encouraged tourism professionals to return to work in the tourism sector as tourists from Thailand and Vietnam flock to Cambodia Ms. Chhay Sivlin stated that international tourists are gradually returning to Cambodia after Cambodia reopened the country and removed COVID-19 restrictions. She added “Currently, Vietnamese tourists who come to Cambodia are ahead of Chinese tourists, and the second leading group is Thai tourists. While Cambodia is progressing towards a better situation for the growth of tourists, we are still concerned about the lack of tourism professionals, so we encourage tourism professionals to return to work to provide more and more diverse tourism products to attract international tourists and attract national tourists not to travel abroad too much as other countries start to open” read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501085259/tourism-workers-urged-to-return-to-work-as-tourism-picks-up/

Police briefly arrested three union representatives amid a demonstration of more than 1,000 shoe-factory workers in Kampong Chhnang, saying workers should be only allowed to submit letters, not protest. At least 5,600 workers at Can Sports Shoe, a supplier for Adidas, gave thumbprints supporting a strike about 35 demands that have accumulated over several years, according to workers and labor rights groups. Only a few hundred went into work on Tuesday as more than 1,000 workers gathered outside the factory in Samakki Meanchey district’s Sethei commune and blocked a road, they said. Deputy provincial police chief Ear Bunthoeun said three union leaders had been arrested, but released after they agreed to stop organizing chaos. “If workers want to demand benefits, just let them do it and submit letters. But we can’t allow inciters to provoke demonstrations and work stoppages,” Bunthoeun said. Public order could be disrupted by demonstrations, he said. The workers had blocked National Road 5, which could suffer traffic jams even with short disruptions, he added. Noem Sokhoeun, one of the arrested union leaders, said he had been accused of incitement to commit a felony. read more https://vodenglish.news/more-than-1000-shoe-factory-workers-protest-police-detain-three/

Ear Channa returned for the first time since 2005 to help the Candlelight Party in the June 5 elections. Authorities in Cambodia on Monday arrested a former youth activist and Norwegian citizen who recently returned from exile to support the opposition Candlelight Party in the June 5 local communal elections, RFA has learned. Ear Channa had been living in Norway after he was granted asylum there in 2005 for criticizing the Cambodian government’s attempts to solve a border dispute with Vietnam. While abroad, he came to support the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), which Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved in 2017. The move allowed Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to claim all 125 seats in the National Assembly during general elections the following year, kicking off a five-year crackdown on political opponents to the CPP. The Candlelight Party grew over the past year to become Cambodia’s largest opposition party. Candlelight officials have complained for weeks about their party’s candidates being harassed by officials supporting the ruling CPP. Ear Channa came back to Cambodia last week to serve as the vice president of Candlelight's organization in Takeo province in the country’s south. He was arrested while trying to apply for a passport in Phnom Penh and sent to detention in Prey Sar Prison on charges of conspiracy to commit treason for his actions two years ago, when he allegedly disturbed the social order to such a degree as to affect the nation’s security. Candlelight Party Vice President Son Chhay told RFA’s Khmer Service that Ear Channa is the second person affiliated with the party to have been arrested after voluntarily repatriating. He expressed concern over the arrest, calling it another example of intimidation against his party. “Why are they making these kinds of arrests during the election campaign period?” he said. The campaign period started on May 21 and will end on June 3. “This is all intimidation to disturb the election.” CPP spokesman Sok Ey San said the arrest and the election were not related. “This is not pressure against an opponent. It has nothing to do with the election. Don’t connect this case to the election campaign,” he said, and cited the pending 2020 warrant. Sok Ey San also said that an active election campaign period cannot prevent the court from issuing warrants or arresting criminals. Monk excommunicated In another move against the opposition, a Buddhist monk in the northern province of Siem Reap said he was removed from his office for his support for the Candlelight Party. Heng Kim Lay raised funds for the party which caused several pagodas to deny him entrance. He left the party on May 28, but the pagodas refused to bring him back into the fold. “As a monk, I have political rights, and I should not be a victim,” he told RFA. Supporters have urged him to flee to Thailand, he said, but he has decided not to. RFA was unable to reach Ministry of Cults and Religions spokesman Seng Somoni for comment. Removing a monk for his political views is illegal, according to Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian League for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights NGO. “Monks have the right to support any political party. He has done nothing wrong,” he said. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/exile-05312022174652.html

Thon Sot boarded his koyun and took the usual route to his farmland in Preah Vihear’s Brame commune in February. The 58-year-old farmer drove along Road 64, which heads towards Stung Treng, took a right just before the abandoned Rui Feng sugarcane factory and arrived at his farmland. The farmer was shocked to see people already on his land. They were tilling the land and preparing it for planting cassava. Four people with two tractors were doing the tilling. He politely asked who they were and why they were on his and other village residents’ land, not wanting trouble. An argument ensued. Sot said the “new people” did not tell him who they were or where they came from. He had never seen them before. In the meantime, someone had called the district police, who broke up the argument. “But the next day they continued plowing,” Sot said, adding that they didn’t stop after that. Other farmers who also confronted the new people were told one of the four was a manager at Rui Feng and another used to work at the company’s factory. read more https://vodenglish.news/sugar-plantation-residents-worn-down-by-dispute-feel-hopeless-about-vote/

Rights group ADHOC is continuing to implement a project in Mondulkiri and Ratanakkiri provinces aimed at educating the public about the impact of young marriages after finding that youth marriage rates, especially among indigenous people, remain high. The “Project to protect and prevent Child, Early and Forced Marriage (CEFM)” – funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) – runs from October 1, 2021 to December 10, 2023. The 27-month project aims to educate parents, youth, communities and indigenous people about the impact of young marriage, changes in attitudes toward forced marriage at a young age, and laws concerning marriage. Meas Saim, ADHOC deputy director of women and children’s rights, told The Post that the project aims to encourage indigenous peoples, especially families with young married boys and girls, to understand why they should not marry too early and drop out of school. They can have physical and mental health problems as well as serious sexual problems. read more https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/adhoc-pursues-project-tackle-child-marriage

The problems of a lack of access to clean water and sanitation was one of the leading causes of stunting and wasting in children under five years old, which had led to the government and relevant organisations setting 2023 goals of reducing the two categories, according to the Council for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD). The CARD’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and Nutrition Sub-Working Group – known as W&N SWG – organised a study tour in Kampong Thom and Siem Reap provinces from May 24-27 as part of the “Nutrition-Sensitive Water Supply, improved Sanitation, and Hygiene services” project. Speaking during the four-day tour, W&N SWG co-chair Chea Samnang said clean water and sanitation shortages were some of the causes that 32 per cent of children under 5 years old were stunted, and 10 per cent were wasted. read more https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lack-clean-water-causing-child-stunting-wasting

Businessman with checkered past has financial ties to Cambodian power couple with holdings in Singapore. Wang Yaohui has taken an unconventional career path for a Cambodian diplomat. For one thing, he was born in China and lived there for most of his life. For another, he has a very checkered past in the business world, tainted by bribery scandals over a copper mine in Zambia and a state-run bank in China for which he was detained and an associate was sentenced to life in prison. But following a path well-trodden by other Chinese tycoons with reputational problems, Wang used connections among the Cambodian elite to land himself a new nationality, a new name and a new career. Using his adopted Khmer name, Wan Sokha, he rapidly became an “advisor” to Prime Minister Hun Sen and landed a plum post at Cambodia’s embassy in Singapore, a position he still holds. That diplomatic posting has not prevented him from furthering his business interests. Untangling the web of those interests which stretch from Asia to Europe is no easy task. Wang has gone to great lengths to conceal his enormous but undeclared commercial footprint. A key piece in this complex puzzle are the Singaporean holdings of a Cambodian power couple: Sen. Lau Ming Kan and his wife Choeung Sopheap, who has been instrumental in Wang’s progress. This story explores those ties, using documentary evidence and also flight manifests from aircraft owned by Wang. It is part of a wide-ranging RFA investigation into more than $230 million in financial and property interests that figures linked to Cambodia’s ruling party have in the prosperous city state of Singapore. The documents not only show how Sopheap helped transform Wang from a fugitive to an accredited Cambodian diplomat. They also show how Wang has become the apparent beneficial owner of an energy company granted an exclusive 10-year license to import liquified natural gas by the Cambodian government. The documents also show that Wang has concealed from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the English Football League his substantial stake in a major English soccer team, Birmingham City Football Club. That is potentially a criminal offence, punishable by up to two years in prison. Additionally, the documents shed light on how Sopheap has been embroiled in a real estate deal in Cyprus involving Wang that is the subject of a European police investigation. Mired in mining scandal Wang was born in June 1966 in Heilongjiang, China’s northernmost province bordering Russia, soon after the start of the Cultural Revolution, which saw millions die as the Communist Party sought to purge society of traditional and capitalist elements. That’s in stark contrast to the dynamics of Wang’s adult life which associates say has been spent in single-minded pursuit of money. From the late 1990s onwards, his zest for profits saw him invest in everything from African mining operations to the Chinese art market and he did so with gusto. By the end of each venture, however, his business partners almost invariably felt that they had been wronged. A truck leaves the Chibuluma copper mine after collecting ore from 1,693 feet (516 meters) below the surface in the Zambian copper belt region, Jan. 17, 2015. (Reuters) In 2009, Wang signed an agreement with the government of Zambia on behalf of his Zhonghui Mining Group, pledging to invest $3.6 billion in a copper mine in the central African nation. The deal – which was hailed by Zambia’s then-President Rupiah Banda as a “positive development” – would quickly come undone, according to By All Means Necessary: How China's Resource Quest is Changing the World, a 2013 book by Elizabeth Economy and Michael Levi, who would go on to be a special assistant to U.S. President Barack Obama. Economy and Levi recount how in 2011 Zhonghui “began building the mine without conducting an environmental impact assessment, violating Zambia’s 1997 EIA regulations.” The year also saw a new party take power in Zambia, which set about scrutinizing land and mining deals overseen by its predecessors. While the move was viewed by the government’s supporters as a marker of improved governance, others “believed that the new administration simply wanted to nullify previous deals to reap its own payments and bribes as the various concessions were sold anew.” Zhonghui was ordered to stop work immediately pending its production of an EIA. The company failed to do so and was charged alongside Zambia’s former minister of mines and minerals with corruption. The government alleged that Zhonghui had paid close to $60,000 of Zambian customs duties for 5,000 bicycles the minister had imported from China in 2011. Reuters reported that prosecution witnesses, “testified that with the minister’s influence, the Chinese firm was awarded the licenses within three days when such a process normally lasted months.” The minister was found guilty in 2015 and sentenced to one year in jail with hard labor (although in 2019 he received a presidential pardon). The court ruled Zhonghui had no case to answer. But by that time, Wang had bigger problems closer to home. A bribes for loans scandal In June 2012, the South China Morning Post reported that Wang had been detained late the previous month in Beijing by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Chinese Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog. Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper claimed the party was investigating allegations of “bribery and money laundering” within a “complex network run by low-profile but well-connected businessman Wang Yaohui.” Photograph of Wang widely distributed around the time of Agricultural Bank of China Vice President Yang Kun’s arrest for allegedly receiving bribes from Wang. (Photo: Supplied by source) In particular, the authorities were examining Wang’s relationship with Yang Kun, the vice-president of the state-owned Agricultural Bank of China. Sources told the South China Morning Post that together Wang and Yang had “lost several hundred million yuan during their gambling trips to Macau.” Moreover, the sources added, Yang had overseen loans from the bank to one of Wang’s companies, putatively intended to support property development, but which, “may have been misused to cover gambling losses in Macau.” Yang was eventually hit with corruption charges, among them that he took 4.138 million yuan ($630,000) in bribes from Wang between 2008 and 2010 and that in return he facilitated 1.45 billion yuan ($220 million) in loans from Agricultural Bank of China to Wang’s company. Yang contended at trial that the loans were offered on merit, but nonetheless pled guilty to all charges and was sentenced to life imprisonment. A new life – and name – in Cambodia Wang, meanwhile, went uncharged. By the time Yang was handed his punishment in February 2015, Wang had been a naturalized Cambodian citizen for 11 months. He took a Khmer name, Wan Sokha, set up myriad businesses, and by July of the same year had been appointed a personal advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen. The role came with a diplomatic passport. Issued in August 2015, the document describes Wang as an “Advisor to the Prime Minister” and gives his emergency contact as Cheung Sopheap, a frequently used alternative spelling of the name of senator’s wife, prime minister’s confidante, and business tycoon in her own right, Choeung Sopheap. Wang Yaohui’s 2014 certificate of naturalization as a Cambodian citizen. The highlighted sections reads: "To grant Khmer naturalization to Mr. Wang Yaohui, Chinese origin, Chinese national, born June 11, 1966, in Heilongjiang province, PRC." (Photo: Cambodian Royal Gazette) How an individual with as checkered a past as Wang’s found himself an advisor to Hun Sen is unclear. So, too, is the question of how Sopheap came to be listed as the emergency contact on his diplomatic passport. However, Wang and the tycoon were soon to have overlapping interests both in Cambodia and as far afield as Europe. In May 2015, as Yang Kun would have been entering his third month of imprisonment, a new company was incorporated on the European island nation of Cyprus. Named JWPegasus Ltd, the company was established as an investment vehicle for the construction of a Radisson Blu hotel in the coastal city of Larnaca. A 2019 investigation by Reuters revealed that among the shareholders were Sopheap, two of her children, and Im Paulika, the wife of Cambodian Finance Minister Aun Pornmoniroth. The news agency also obtained Cypriot Interior Ministry documents showing that all four were granted Cypriot citizenship following the investment, as were Finance Minister Pornmoniroth and Sen. Lau Ming Kan. Three out of the first four investors in JWPegasus, who joined the project in August 2016, were associates of Wang. Lay Virak was born in China and known as Yu Teng until he became a naturalized Cambodian citizen in February 2015. Cambodian business records show he shares a residential address with other individuals involved in the management of companies linked to Wang. Another investor, Tang Yuhong, was Wang’s longtime romantic partner and the co-owner of mansions he owns in California. The third investor, Li Xiaohua, has since 2014 been a minority shareholder and co-director of a Singaporean company majority owned by Wang’s partner Tang. The following month, in September 2016, Sopheap and her daughter Lau Sok Huy took shares in JWPegasus. The same month a set of notices appeared in the Haravgi newspaper in Cyprus announcing that several individuals had submitted their applications for Cypriot citizenship to the Interior Ministry. Among the names listed were: Li Xiaohua, Wang Yaohui, Lay Virak, Lau Sok Huy, Choeung Sopheap, Pich Aphirak (Lau Sok Huy’s husband), Tang Yuhong, and Lau Ming Kan. All were either investors in JWPegasus or the spouse of an investor. Cambodian ruling party senator Lau Ming Kan’s Cypriot passport, granted following his wife Choeung Sopheap’s multimillion dollar investment in the construction of a hotel on the island nation, whose police force is currently investigating the transaction. (Photo: Supplied by source) RFA has been able to independently confirm that Wang, Tang, Sopheap and Lau Ming Kan had all received Cypriot passports by February 2017. Flight manifests obtained by RFA show that Sopheap and Ming Kan were passengers on planes owned by Wang at least five times in 2017 and 2018, variously using both their Cambodian and Cypriot passports. By this point, Wang was no longer merely an advisor to Hun Sen. In January 2016 he had been issued a new diplomatic passport. This one no longer bore Sopheap’s name and phone number, but it did announce a new job for Wang: minister-counselor at the Cambodian embassy in Singapore. Diplomatic immunity and corporate disguises In 2017, Wang took an unusual step for a diplomat – he caused at least two companies to be established in Singapore. While not expressly forbidden by international law, it is generally frowned upon for diplomats to have private commercial interests in their host country. Wang’s name does not appear anywhere on the documents lodged with the Singaporean business registry in connection with the companies. However, documents obtained by RFA show that he is the outright – if undeclared – owner of one (Gold Star Aviation Pte Ltd) and has a significant, likely controlling, interest in the other – Asia Pacific Energy Holdings (Singapore) Pte Ltd. Gold Star Aviation is the owner and operator of private jets. Its sole shareholder is a British Virgin Islands company called Dragon Villa Limited and its only director is a Singaporean citizen named Leong Chee Kong, or Ben. However, affidavits lodged with the Singapore High Court reveal that the true owner of Dragon Villa is in fact Wang. One of the affidavits was submitted by Jenny Shao, a Taiwanese-American dual citizen who describes herself as Dragon Villa’s “authorized signatory.” (Shao was also identified by Wang’s lawyers as his attorney-in-fact – meaning a person authorized to act by a power of attorney - during a 2010 court battle between Wang and Farro Essalat, a prestigious Californian architect who had sued for unpaid fees after he was hired to design one of Wang and Tang’s two luxury homes on the outskirts of San Francisco). In her affidavit, dated October 2020, Shao writes that Dragon Villa “is beneficially owned by Mr. Wang.” A beneficial owner is a person who enjoys the benefits of owning a company which is in someone else’s name. The claim is echoed in affidavits submitted by a former Gold Star Aviation employee named Mohideen Abdul Kader, who recounted Shao claiming that “she handled all his business matters under a company called Dragon Villa.” Gianluca Zanigni, a former Gold Star Aviation pilot, also submitted an affidavit suggesting that the company was run by Shao on behalf of Wang. Both his and Kader’s affidavits described Kong – the company’s sole listed director – as Wang’s personal driver. The second company that Wang is linked to in Singapore, Asia Pacific Energy Holdings, acts as corporate parent to Cambodian Natural Gas Corp Ltd, a Phnom Penh-registered company that, according to its website, has been granted a 10-year monopoly on the import and distribution of liquified natural gas in Cambodia. “One of the company's shareholders has a deep Cambodian government background,” the company’s website notes. “With this strong shareholder protection provides even a stronger guarantee for the company to obtain various policy support.” That shareholder would appear to Sopheap, who owns 40 percent of Asia Pacific Energy Holdings’ shares. The remaining 60 percent are held by an anonymous British Virgin Islands shell company called Smart City Investments Ltd. While the beneficial owner of Smart City Investments has not been publicly disclosed, there are several indications that Wang has an interest in it. For one, his alleged chauffeur Kong is listed as a director of Asia Pacific Energy Holdings. Kong also signed Asia Pacific Energy Holdings official minutes in his capacity as “a joint corporate representative of Smart City Investment Ltd.” His Gold Star Aviation email address was also given as the contact information for Sopheap as a shareholder in Asia Pacific Energy Holdings. Asia Pacific Energy Holdings’ accounts also provide clues to Wang’s involvement. They record two loans to the company totaling $22.8 million. The first loan, of $3.2 million, comes from a Cambodian company, Graticity Real Estate Development Co Ltd, whose sole shareholder and director was Wang (using his Khmer name Wan Sokha) from June 2014 until two days after Asia Pacific Energy Holdings was established in May 2017. The second loan, valued at $19.6 million, came from a British Virgin Islands company called Well Faith Shipping Co Ltd. Well Faith Shipping is the owner of a $23.6 million London home, whose address is listed in Cypriot corporate filings by JWPegasus as that of Wang’s partner Tang, and that a source familiar with the matter has described as Wang’s primary residence in the United Kingdom. Cambodian Natural Gas Corp’s primary supplier is the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation. In 2019, CNOOC issued a press release identifying Wang as a “senior executive” with Cambodian Natural Gas Corp representing the company in a meeting with Communist Party officials in Beijing to discuss potential projects in Cambodia’s nascent natural gas sector. Wang Yaohui sits with the delegation of the Cambodian Natural Gas Corp at a Nov. 25, 2019, meeting with the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation in Beijing. (CNOOC website) The press release appears to suggest not only that Wang is associated with Cambodian Natural Gas Corp, but that whatever tensions the Yang Kun case might have produced between Wang and his homeland’s government have thawed. Taking a slice of the beautiful game It is unclear precisely how Wang went from seemingly being persona non grata in his homeland to becoming a guest and business partner of a Chinese state-owned corporation. He had, however, covertly acquired himself a slice of the president’s favorite sport. Since his elevation in 2009, Chinese President Xi Jinping has made no secret of his dream of a world-class Chinese national soccer team. In 2014, self-professed Manchester United fan Xi announced a 50-point plan for Chinese soccer greatness, including the construction of tens of thousands of soccer schools across the country. Well-heeled Chinese entrepreneurs took their cue and set about buying up top-flight European clubs. The shopping spree lasted until mid-2017, according to a 2021 report by sports business news site Sportico, when the Chinese government “decided the country’s domestic football program wasn’t reaping enough benefits from all of the investment,” and set about encouraging the repatriation of investments in overseas clubs. St Andrew's, the home stadium of Birmingham City Football Club, in a file photo taken Jan. 22, 2022. (Action Images/Reuters) Wang was clearly undeterred, however, and in late 2017 set about acquiring a stake in Birmingham City Football Club, a soccer club in the English Football League’s Championship, the country’s second-highest tier. True to form, though, he did so in such a way that his name appeared nowhere in connection with it. The club is majority-owned by a company registered in the Cayman Islands called Birmingham Sports Holdings Ltd, whose shares are traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. On the morning of Sept. 27, 2017, RFA has learned that Birmingham Sports Holdings CEO Huang Dongfeng and Wang boarded the latter’s private jet at Phnom Penh airport, touching down in Hong Kong three and a half hours later. Exactly two months later, on Nov. 27, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands called Ever Depot Limited bought $39 million of shares in the club’s Hong Kong-listed parent company, Birmingham Sports Holdings Ltd, giving it control of 24.9 percent of its stock. A filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange announcing the purchase states Ever Depot is owned by Graticity Real Estate Development – the Cambodian company that loaned Asia Pacific Energy Holdings $3.2 million. The filing describes Graticity Real Estate Development’s beneficial owner as Vong Pech, who took control of the company when Wang resigned his directorship and disposed of his shareholding in May 2017. Born in China in 1976, Vong was known as Wang Dong prior to becoming a naturalized Cambodian citizen in 2015, according to a notice in the Cambodian Royal Gazette. Two sources familiar with the matter described Vong as a close relative of Wang Yaohui who frequently fronts ownership of companies and assets for him. Pictured (top) on the tarmac at Zurich Airport, Wang Yaohui’s Boeing 737 private jet, in which he gave rides to senior Birmingham Sports Holdings executives as well as Lau Ming Kan, Choeung Sopheap and their extended family. Also pictured (below) the jet's plush interior. (Exterior photo: Flick/Alec Wilson; interior photos: Photos supplied by source) The next month, on Dec. 14, Dragon Villa Limited spent $12.7 million on shares representing 8.54 percent of Birmingham Sports Holdings’ total stock. The following day, a man with the same name, age and nationality as Birmingham Sports Holdings executive director Hsiao Charng-Geng hitched a ride on Wang’s private jet from Hanoi, Vietnam, to Phnom Penh, according to a copy of the flight manifest obtained by RFA. Also on the flight was Vong Pech. The following March, flight records show Hsiao and Wang flew aboard the same plane from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh. A notice to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange announcing the sale identified a man named Lei Sutong as Dragon Villa’s beneficial owner. However, Lei would appear to be a nominee owner acting on behalf of Wang. Not only does Wang’s attorney-in-fact Shao’s 2020 affidavit identify Wang as the beneficial owner of Dragon Villa; it also identifies him as the beneficial owner of a Samoan company called Peace Crown Limited. A document signed and sealed by Peace Crown’s resident agents in Samoa dated April 2017 identifies Lei as the sole director and shareholder of Peace Crown. The recurring discrepancy between the stated ownership and beneficial ownership of companies connected to Wang gives credence to a claim made repeatedly to RFA by sources familiar with his business practices. Namely, that he habitually appoints others to represent his interests in companies he controls but does not want to be linked to in official records. Proxy directors and shareholders are viewed as legitimate corporate tools in many jurisdictions. However, it appears that on this occasion Wang’s use of them may have strayed into the realm of illegality. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange requires anybody with an interest in five percent or more in a listed company to declare that interest publicly. It is possible – although unlikely – that Lei was indeed the beneficial owner of Dragon Villa when in December 2017 it acquired 8.54 percent of Birmingham Sports Holdings. But we know from the affidavit of Shao – Wang’s attorney-in-fact for at least the past 13 years – that by 2020 the true owner was Wang. Even if Wang was not the beneficial owner in 2017, he was legally obliged to publicly announce his interest in Birmingham Sports Holdings within three days of becoming Dragon Villa’s owner. Under Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Ordinance, it is a criminal offence to provide a false or misleading statement to the city’s stock exchange, punishable by up to two years in prison. As of publication, Dragon Villa and Graticity Real Estate Development respectively owned 17.08 and 25.53 percent of Birmingham City Holdings, making Wang and his family the single largest ownership bloc among shareholders in the club’s holding company. Comment was sought from Birmingham Sports Holdings on its apparent failure to comply with Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Ordinance by failing to disclose Wang's status as a substantial shareholder in the company. A company representative responded with an email that did not address any of the issues raised by RFA. "We appreciate your support to our Group and Birmingham City Football Club," the representative wrote in a somewhat unusual response to allegations of what could potentially amount to criminal misconduct. Police on trail of ‘Power Couple’ Meanwhile, in Cyprus, Wang’s Cambodian co-investors in JWPegasus -- the company set up as an investment vehicle for a Radisson Blu hotel construction project -- have legal problems of their own. Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding Sopheap and her senator husband’s obtaining citizenship of the island nation, which is an EU member state. A person riding a scooter passes an advertisement near Paphos, Cyprus October 12, 2019. (Reuters) A March 10 judgement of the Supreme Court of Cyprus contains details of an affidavit lodged by the police in support of an application for a warrant to search a lawyer’s office in connection with the investigation. While the judgement only makes use of the initials “SC,” other identifying details within the text indicate that those letters stand for “Sopheap Choeung.” “It was found that a person from Cambodia, SC, secured naturalization with false representations as an investor, as well as her husband as a dependent family member,” the judgement reads. In 2016, it continued, “SC” made the investment underlying their citizenship application through 25 bank card payments totaling 3.2 million euros ($3.5 million), noting that: “According to a statement from a Central Bank official, the use of bank cards for the transfer to Cyprus of amounts of € 2,000,000 and € 3,000,000 within a few minutes indicates a suspicious transaction.” In essence, the police believe that Sopheap moved the money via credit card rather than wire transfer so as to avoid the scrutiny that a Cypriot bank would be legally required to perform on a transaction of that size. “In submitting their application, these persons concealed a substantial fact, such as that their business activities in Cambodia resulted in the suspension of funding for their country by the World Bank,” it added, in an obvious reference to the couple’s Shukaku property development firm, whose filling in of Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kok Lake and –often violent – eviction of nearby residents drew international ire and the World Bank blacklisting. In a curious coincidence, Graticity Real Estate Development – the firm formerly chaired by Wang, and which owns 25.53 percent of Birmingham Sports Holdings – was the first company to begin construction in 2015 on the land cleared by Shukaku. In a further twist, Graticity Real Estate Development has leased 1,200 meters[MP2] of the development to Birmingham Sports Holdings. While the nesting layers of transactions and shell companies may be confusing, they add up to a few simple facts. Firstly, that Wang’s fortunes are intimately bound up with those of Sopheap and her family. Secondly, that Wang has a vast, undeclared commercial footprint, not only in Cambodia but across Asia and Europe. Wang’s aversion to transparency coupled with his being linked to at least two major corruption scandals raises important questions about the openness of Cambodia’s leadership to mysterious men bearing money of opaque origin, and the influence it allows those men to buy in the Kingdom. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/cambodia-wang-yaohui-05202022172549.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

A Phnom Penh man was arrested on Saturday, accused of beheading his wife. Pursuant to the order of Lt. Gen. Thet, Deputy Commissioner and Phnom Penh Municipal Police Commissioner, Lt. Gen. Song Ly, Deputy Commissioner for Criminal Planning, led the Phnom Penh Municipal Police Commissioner’s Office of Serious Crimes to cooperate with the Criminal Department. Ministry of Interior, Takeo Provincial Police Force, Tuol Kork Police Inspectorate, Prek Pnov Police Inspectorate, an operation was conducted on 28th May, 2022 at 2:45 pm to search and arrest the suspect. The crime is believed to have been committed on the night of May 27, 2022. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501084087/man-arrested-for-beheading-wife/

Big C Supercenter Plc, a leading retail operator in Thailand, has acquired Kiwi Mart – a convenience store chain in Cambodia – via its Cambodian subsidiary to strengthen its retail business in the neighbouring country. According to Gary Hardy, an adviser of Big C Supercenter, Big C Supercenter (Cambodia) reached an agreement to acquire Kiwi Mart in Cambodia last week. The acquisition was effective as of May 17, but the value of the deal has not been disclosed. “The acquisition of Kiwi Mart is an important opportunity for both Big C and its parent firm, Berli Jucker Plc, to expand business in the Asean region, including Cambodia,” he said. The deal allows Big C to own 18 Kiwi Mart stores in Cambodia, 17 of which are in Phnom Penh, with the other branch located in Kampot province. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501084329/big-c-bags-cambodias-kiwi-mart/

Cambodia Airways on Friday announced the launch of a new direct service between Phnom Penh and Samui. The airline will operate two flights a week on Tuesday and Friday, according to a release. The new service on an Airbus A319 aircraft has a capacity of 150 passengers. The flight, which starts from Phnom Penh at 8:30 am, reaches Samui at 9:40 am. The flight from Samui on KR724 starts at 10.40 am and reaches the Cambodian capital at 11.50 am. Representatives from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Koh Samui Municipality Tourism Council of Surat Thani Province, Koh Samui Tourism Promotion Association, Southern Thai Hotels Association, East Coast Samui Spa Association, and Samui Airport, welcomed the first 50 passengers on the inaugural flight on Friday at Samui Airport. Accompanying passengers on the inaugural flight were members of Cambodia Airways management. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501084325/cambodia-airways-kickstarts-phnom-penh-samui-direct-flights/

The ruling CPP is targeting voters, especially older people, across the country for electoral education — they are handed a pen and mock ballot and, under supervision from officials, shown how to pick the CPP. The party is open about the process: Reporters have seen photos and reports posted online by the CPP in Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang, Kep, Pailin, Phnom Penh, Preah Sihanouk, Pursat and Tbong Khmum. In some, a CPP official holds the hand of an older voter as they draw a check mark next to the ruling party’s angel logo. Prak Maly, commune chief in Phnom Penh’s Boeng Keng Kang I, said people were actively enjoying the lessons and voluntarily joined them. “In past elections we also taught younger people, but there was no problem and they understood it. But old people often forget and don’t know how to draw,” Maly said. “We told them not to draw outside the box — only in the box. Draw very little and not a long line.” Plouk Sovan, commune chief in Kampong Cham city’s Kampong Cham commune, said officials visited peoples homes to show them examples of voting. Photos seen online show only the CPP logo. read more https://vodenglish.news/across-cambodia-ruling-party-teaches-how-to-vote-cpp/

The gateway to Angkor Wat aims to triple its foreign tourist arrivals in 15 years, with a particular focus on ensuring rural communities share in the wealth Cambodia expects to welcome 1 million international visitors this year, as hostels in the capital and other tourists hotspots report nearing full capacity Cambodia’s Angkor Wat is bouncing back, with an eco-friendly face. Siem Reap, the gateway to the ruins of Angkor, aims to triple its number of international tourist arrivals over the next 15 years and use this tourism revenue to accelerate rural development, under a development plan drafted in the first year of the pandemic. A US$150 million makeover of the city was completed in March, including widening and adding roads and highways, expanding broadband access, and creating bicycle lanes along the river that meanders through it. “Siem Reap’s downtown and surroundings, as well as the Angkor Wat heritage park, now have a new face,” said Thourn Sinan, president of the Cambodian chapter of the Pacific Asia Travel Association. “This new face is a very effective way to attract more international tourists and convince them to stay longer.” read more https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3179440/cambodias-reopened-siem-reap-sets-its-sights-quality-tourist

A woman accused of the shocking abuse of a 5 year old child in Phnom Penh has been further detained by authorities after a court hearing yesterday On the evening of May 27, 2022, Mr. Ket Socheat, Investigating Judge of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, decided to detain the woman in Prey Sar Prison on charges of aggravated intentional violence under Article 219 of the Penal Code. The woman violently beat a 5 year old girl who was under her care The initial arrest had been made in front of 13Eo, Street 219, Group 22, Village 03, Sangkat Phsar Depot 1, Khan Toul Kork, Phnom Penh at around 23:30 on May 23. 2022. The woman was then sent to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court by the Tuol Kork Police Inspectorate on May 26, 2022. The suspect has been named as Chan Thida, alias Thida, a 37-year-old Cambodian woman who sells coffee. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501083812/phnom-penh-child-abuser-detained-by-court/

The provincial authorities of Ratanakiri handed over land titles to residents of two villages in one of its districts. Indigenous communities in two villages in Ta Veng district received 36 collective land titles, equivalent to 36 plots, from the Department of Land Management, Urban Planning, Construction and Cadastral Affairs, on the morning of May 27. Muong Pang, Deputy Governor of Ratanakiri, considered the collective land title as a very important document. It is a document representing the entire community property. Not only that, this document represents the exclusive right of the owner of the land to use and enjoy. The Deputy Governor continued that the land that the parents and siblings have collectively registered in the land register and received this title is complete. The land titles are protected by law. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501083732/land-titles-handed-over-to-indigenous-people/

Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen has stated that his son’s future premiership depends on the people’s vote. The PM made his remarks at the 27th International Conference on “The Future of Asia” organized by Japan’s Nikkei Inc. via video conference on Friday morning, saying: “It is not the automatic transfer of power, but it is through the people’s vote. In the upcoming election, if people vote for the CPP, it means that the people want the CPP to lead the country, headed by Hun Sen with Hun Manet as the successor”. The PM also asked critics whether they want their children to be successful. “I want my children to be great just like everyone does. So do not take away my right,” the premier said. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501083626/pm-hun-manets-future-premiership-depends-on-peoples-vote/

'We don't put ourselves into anybody's trap,' says Hun Sen. Leaders of two of the least developed countries in Southeast Asia, Laos and Cambodia, denied Friday they have fallen into a Chinese debt trap despite owing billions of dollars to their giant neighbor. Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen and Laos President Thongloun Sisoulith both spoke at the 27th Future of Asia conference in Tokyo on Friday via video link. Hun Sen, who has been ruling Cambodia for almost four decades, claimed that Cambodia's borrowing rate was at 23 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), well below its legislated ceiling of 40 percent. He said, “we don't just borrow without looking at our situation." Cambodia’s external public debt stood at around US$8.8 billion in 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Bilateral debt continues to account for 69 percent of total external debt, with more than half of it owed to China, the IMF said. The prime minister told the conference that Cambodia borrows from a number of countries including Japan and South Korea, as well as international institutions such as the Asian Development Bank and World Bank. The loans are needed for infrastructure development, he said, adding: “We don't put ourselves into anybody's trap." "If we don't have investment from China, what source of electricity can we have?" Hun Sen said, repeating the question he asked at the 26th Future of Asia conference last year. The annual conference is organized by Nikkei Inc. and provides a forum for Asian political leaders and academics to discuss regional issues. One year ago, Hun Sen told the conference: "If I don't rely on China, who will I rely on? If I don't ask China, who am I to ask?" A file photo showing Laos' President Thongloun Sisoulith at the Japan-Mekong Summit Meeting in Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 9, 2018. At the time he was prime minister of Laos. Credit: Reuters Landlocked economy Cambodia’s neighbor Laos also said China is not the only source of loans. “Relying on only one country’s resources is not enough. We have connected with different countries and international organizations for help with our infrastructure development,” said President Thongloun, who served as Lao prime minister between 2016-2021. “We’re engaged in discussions and negotiations not only with China but also Vietnam, Japan, Asia Development Bank, World Bank and other countries that offer loans and support the Lao People’s Democratic Republic,” he said. Laos is a landlocked country with no access to the sea, the president said, and it desperately needs to develop connectivity with other countries around it. “We’re trying to repay our debts according to our ability and system and the need of our current situation.” “I would say that we’re not in a debt trap at the moment,” Thongloun said. The World Bank reported in August 2021 that Laos’ public debt has climbed to U.S. $13.3 billion, or 72 percent of its GDP. Most of the debt was incurred by the energy sector – as Laos builds dozens of hydropower dams in a push to become the ‘battery of Asia’. International credit rating agency Fitch said in an August 2021 report that almost half of Laos’ external debt over the next few years must be paid to China – which has also built a $6 billion dollar, high-speed railway, which opened late last year. The government will have to pay $414 million a year in interest alone, according to Lao Finance Minister Bounchom Oubonpaseuth. Cambodia’s leadership succession Also at the Future of Asia conference, Prime Minister Hun Sen rejected criticism about his plans to pass power to his eldest son, Hun Manet, who is currently the commander of the Royal Cambodian Army. The ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) at its Congress in December voted unanimously for 44-year-old Hun Manet, the oldest of Hun Sen’s six children, to succeed his father. The CPP holds every seat in the nation’s parliament. When asked about it at the conference, Hun Sen declined to talk about a transition plan but said that all his three sons “are capable of becoming prime minister.” Cambodia is set to hold commune elections on June 5 – a prelude to general elections in July 2023 to elect members of the National Assembly, or the lower house of the Parliament. "If people continue to vote for the CPP with Hun Sen as the prime minister candidate and Hun Manet as the future candidate for prime minister, that means the people are in agreement with the CPP continuing to lead the country, led by Hun Sen and then by Hun Manet after that," Hun Sen said. This story has been updated to edit the quote below the headline. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/cambodia-debt-05272022110503.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

Land Minister Chea Sophara has advocated for more trees to be planted to help fight climate change and to reap the environmental benefits that trees offer. He proposed that the green effort starts with planting tree saplings in Siem Reap province’s pagodas. “I will suggest to Siem Reap province’s Mohanikaya sect chief monk Venerable Chum Kimleng to implement this tree project and create tree gardens in all pagodas in Siem Reap. “I will follow up on this plan by writing to seek permission from Prime Minister Hun Sen for pagodas to have tree gardens,” Sophara said during the inauguration of the Angkor Botanical Garden in Siem Reap recently. Sophara said green spaces provide, among many other benefits, tranquility, reduces stress, lowers pollution, gives off oxygen and provides food, protection and homes for birds and mammals. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501083019/land-management-minister-wants-more-trees-in-siem-reap/

Cambodia exported 3,834 tonnes of pepper in the January-April period of this year, an increase of 79.3% compared to the same period in 2021, according to a report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. Vietnam is the biggest market for Cambodia’s pepper with exports of 3,540 tonnes, read the report, citing that other major markets for the country are Germany, Malaysia, Belgium, France, the Czech Republic, Japan, Canada, US, UK, Sweden, Kazakhstan and Australia. Though the exports showed impressive growth, the price on average dropped. Mak Ny, president of the Cambodia Pepper and Spice Federation, said yesterday that the increase in pepper exports was due to the improved transportation after the country reopened and some measures on Covid-19 were relaxed and removed. The president applauded the increase in the volume of exports, although the general price had dropped from about 16 million riels (approximately $4,000) per tonne to 13 million riels per tonne. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501083162/pepper-exports-zoom-79-in-four-months/

The Candlelight Party says authorities harass their candidates and supporters at the behest of the ruling party. Two attackers on Thursday injured an opposition candidate for a local council in Cambodia’s upcoming commune elections, an incident she and members of her party said is another example of intimidation and harassment that they have faced in the run-up to the June 5 vote. Sorn Chanthorn is running for a seat on the Tra Paing Prasat Commune council in the northwestern province of Oddar Meanchey, representing the opposition Candlelight Party. While she was driving to a campaign function, she said the attackers kicked her motorbike, causing her to crash. She believes the attackers wanted her to withdraw her candidacy. “I think it was a politically motivated case because I never had any problems like this in the past,” she said, adding that she would not file a complaint because she has no confidence that the police will help her. Tra Paing Prasat district Police Chief Ouch Mao said he hasn’t received any information about the incident. Nevertheless, he said that he doesn’t believe the attack was politically motivated. He said it was sad to hear that Sorn Chanthorn doesn’t have confidence in his department. “So far, I resolved complaints without any political discrimination,” he said. Candlelight Party officials have complained for weeks about incidents of violence and bullying by local officials representing Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). Election monitors have also been harassed, causing several to resign, they said. “The authorities don’t have any measures to prevent intimidation,” Thatch Setha, one of the Candlelight Party’s two vice presidents, told RFA’s Khmer Service Thursday. “They destroy our party’s signs and assault our supporters,” he said, adding that authorities do nothing to stop it. Every five years, voters in the nation of 16 million people elect councils to represent rural precincts know as communes and urban districts called sangkat. This year some 86,000 candidates from 17 political parties are competing for 11,622 seats in 1,652 precincts nationwide. While the councils hold relatively little power, the June 5 election will test the dominance of the CPP and the limits of political freedom for opponents five years into Hun Sen’s crackdown on civil society, media and the internet. CPP spokesman Sok Ey San dismissed the Candlelight Party’s complaints as exaggerations designed to muddy the election environment. He urged it to file complaints with the National Election Committee (NEC), set up to be an independent organization, but that has in the past been criticized for corruption and close ties to the CPP. “It is merely allegation,” Sok Ey San said. “No one dares to threaten [the Candlelight Party].” Kang Savang, an election monitor with the independent Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia NGO, told RFA he has not received any definitive reports of political intimidation, but he urged victims to report election violations to the NEC. “The victims should, however, not simply make verbal complaints. They should make notes and file complaints if it is important,” he said. Party violations Cambodia’s Minister of Interior Sar Kheng on Wednesday said the Candlelight Party violated its statute by appointing Son Chhay as a vice president earlier in the year. Son Chhay was banned from politics for his affiliation with the opposition Cambodia National People’s Party, which was dissolved by Cambodia’s Supreme Court in 2017, a move that allowed Hun Sen’s CPP to win all 125 parliamentary seats the following year. Son Chhay, who requested amnesty and joined the Candlelight Party in March, said he will work to clear up any of the ministry’s concerns. “It is a clerical issue,” he said. “I will prepare my biography and send it to the ministry.” Meanwhile, an appeals court rejected the bail request for Seam Pluk, the founder of a smaller opposition party called the Cambodia National Heart Party, citing concerns over flight risk. Authorities arrested Seam Pluk in late April on charges of forging documents for his party to compete in the local elections. Seam Pluk was on the run for about a week before his arrest. Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights said the decision gives the country’s political system a bad look. “He should have been released on bail because the international community is monitoring the election, especially our political environment,” said Am Sam Ath. Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee President Ros Sotha said Seam Pluk’s arrest violated election laws. He said that Seam Pluk did not provoke any social unrest. “[The government] should have asked him to make corrections and shouldn’t have arrested him. It is a violation his political rights. It is a concern,” he said. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/attack-05262022203901.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua): Cambodia's anti-drug police have arrested a group of four foreigners for manufacturing, possessing and trafficking more than 40kg illicit drugs, the country's Anti-Drug Police Department (ADP) said in a news release on Thursday (May 26). Though the police statement listed the arrests of four Taiwanese nationals, Chito said there were five people now in custody. The four men were arrested at two secretive drug labs, with one of them in mango farms in western Kampong Speu province, and the other at a condo in capital Phnom Penh, on May 19 after an investigation for more than two months. "A total of 40.5kg of ketamine and 1.42 tonnes of its ingredients were confiscated from the suspects during the raids," the police said. A large number of equipment used for manufacturing and packaging drugs as well as 11.5 tonnes of chemicals thought to be used for producing drugs were also impounded, the police added. On May 18, the kingdom caught a group of three foreigners in Phnom Penh and in the coastal province of Preah Sihanouk, seizing a total of 30.4kg of heroin, ecstasy, crystal methamphetamine, methamphetamine, ketamine, and nimetazepam. The Asian nation has no death sentence for drug traffickers. Under its law, someone found guilty of trafficking more than 80gm of drugs could be jailed for life. According to the ADP, Cambodia nabbed 4,602 drug suspects, including 66 foreigners, during the first four months of 2022, confiscating 1.55 tons of illicit drugs and 173 tons of ingredients. https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2022/05/26/cambodia-arrests-four-foreigners-over-illicit-drugs

PHNOM PENH (Bloomberg): Cambodia said ties with the US had improved significantly and it expects the Biden administration to lift sanctions imposed over its ties with China "very soon,” a senior minister said on Wednesday (May 25). "We’re pushing very hard,” Kao Kim Hourn, Cambodia’s minister delegate to the country’s long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen, said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, referring to negotiations over sanctions. "This is the best point we’ve had in our relationship in the past 72 years,” he said. "Bilateral trade and investment are rising and the leaders have met. We hope that we can achieve much more progress on some areas based on mutual respect.” President Joe Biden hosted leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Washington earlier this month, as part of a broader US push to counter Chinese influence in the region. As current chair of the grouping, Cambodia will host a series of summits in November, which Biden is expected to attend. read more https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2022/05/26/cambodia-hails-us-ties-seeks-relief-on-china-linked-sanctions

The Cambodia National Council for Children (CNCC) is investigating a child trafficking angle after a woman was arrested for abusing a five-year-old girl in Phnom Penh. The girl was employed by the 37-year-old woman as domestic help a year ago. Nhep Sopheap, general secretary of CNCC, said: “A five-year-old child was severely assaulted by a 37-year-old woman. She hit the girl like an animal and the government strongly condemns this child abuse. The council and relevant officials are investigating this case, and we are looking into child trafficking in this incident.” Sopheap added that Phnom Penh authorities have found that the five-year-old child was given to the accused by her parents and the victim has been living with the suspect since 2021. It is illegal to employ minors for work in Cambodia and there are laws to deal with violations of child rights in the country, she said. The top official also revealed that there have been three reported cases of child abuse in the country this year. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501082315/authorities-probe-child-trafficking-angle-in-abuse-of-five-year-old-girl/

New dates have been announced for a shortened season of the Tini Tinou International Circus Festival, which will now run only in Battambang for six days from May 29 to June 3. The festival, which was cancelled in 2018 because of lack of sponsorship, and cancelled again in 2020 because of Covid, was almost called off again this year. The recent lifting of travel restrictions has given the festival a last minute reprieve but, due to short notice, there will be no performances in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap, the home of festival co-organiser, Phare The Circus. “We could only confirm the festival once the country travel restrictions were fully lifted, which left little time to plan for a festival in three cities,” says Osman Khawaja, director of the festival’s co-organising body, Phare Ponleu Selpak. “Also, a countrywide festival requires huge sponsorship support, which again with the little time was hard to get. Even for the current festival we have no big sponsorship. The foreign artistes are able to join because of support from the cultural ministries of their own countries. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501082322/circus-festival-to-go-ahead/

The Ministry of Economy and Finance chaired a virtual meeting with the Urban Planning and Design Institute of Shenzhen (UPDIS) to discuss the master plan for the development of Preah Sihanouk Province as a model, multi-purpose special economic zone. Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Economy and Finance Vongsey Visoth said the meeting examined the progress of the master plan, prepared by the working group of UPDIS, that aims to turn Sihanoukville into a smart city with the state-of-the-art technology. Once completed, it will be a vibrant commercial, services and logistics hub in Asean and connect with regional and global production and supply chains, besides being a green city as well. He said the ambitious master plan could face many challenges in its implementation as it aims to transform this area into a modern city in line with the vision of Cambodia to achieve the status of a high middle-income country by 2030 and high-income country by 2050. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501082206/sihanoukville-smart-city-master-plan-discussed/