General in Interpol’s sights

A military general and adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Ke Kim Yan who is wanted on suspicion of the double murder of his mistress and their daughter has been added to Interpol’s “Wanted Persons” list.

Major General Kim Marintha, 57, is suspected of carrying out the premeditated murder of his mistress, Va Dary, 27, and their 6-year-old daughter, Kem Thavichda, on February 15.

The badly decomposed bodies of Dary and Thavichda were found on March 20, dumped in scrub land near Pech Nil in Kampong Speu province.

Both Marintha and his son, Kim Seng Rithy, 30, now appear on the red list of wanted persons on the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, website.

According to the website, Marintha is charged with “voluntary murder”, while his son is accused of hiding the bodies and using illegal weapons.

Last month, Marintha’s son-in-law Chea Samnang, 34, was arrested in Preah Sihanouk province and officially charged by the municipal court prosecutor with being an “accomplice to an intentional murder”.

A joint task force has been investigating the case since mid-March and, in the latest chapter of its investigation, yesterday raided the home of Marintha’s ex-wife, Eang Kanet.

When Kanet arrived at her home in Phnom Penh yesterday afternoon, she led police who were stationed outside into the property but stressed that she and Marintha were divorced and claimed that she had not seen him for “a long time”.

After a lengthy examination of the scene, police re-emerged but had uncovered no new evidence. But one police official who asked not to be named told the Post that police believed that Marintha had been a regular guest at the property.

Following the inspection, Kanet refused to speak to reporters. “I’m not related to the crime,” she said.

Yesterday’s action followed a police raid last month of GST Express Bus Company, one of several businesses’s owned by Marintha, where investigators believe the murders took place.

James McCabe, director of operations at the Child Protection Unit, said yesterday that his team was continuing “to provide coordination and support to the ongoing investigation”.