Undersecretary of State jailed 30 months over land grab

[geovalin]

Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sentenced the Ministry of Justice undersecretary of state, Seng Sovannara to two years and six months in prison over grabbing 1,000 hectares of land in Mondulkiri province between 2018 and last year.

 

His three accomplices Sin Po, 59, former chief of Koh Meul Loeu village, Van Sothea, 36, and Po Choy, 34, both farmers who lived in Mondulkiri province’s Koh Nhek, Nang Khylik commune to two years in prison each. In passing the sentence, Presiding Judge Theam Chanpiseth also said the grabbed land in Mondulkiri province by Sovannara, 53, is now ordered back as State property.

 

He added that Sovannara, arrested on June 26 at his home in Tuol Kork district,  was charged with four counts of “fraud with aggravating circumstances; intimidation in order to prevent the filing of a complaint; and unauthorised holding of a weapon” under Articles 377, 380, 490 and 527 of the Criminal Code and with “grabbing the state’s public property” under Article 62 of the Law on Environmental Protection and Natural Resource Management.

 

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