PM’s sister officially out of job

After issuing an extraordinarily public resignation announcement on her Facebook page last week, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s sister Hun Sinath has officially left her job at the Ministry of National Assembly-Senate Relations and Inspection.

Sinath said in a November 27 Facebook post that she had quit her job because the ministry “does not dare” to investigate allegations that ruling Cambodian People’s Party Senator Ly Yong Phat had abused villagers’ rights on his Kampong Speu province sugar plantation.

According to a Royal Decree that was signed on Monday, King Norodom Sihamoni approved her resignation after receiving her request from Minister of National Assembly-Senate Relations and Inspection Men Sam An on the same day.

Sinath and Sam An could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Yong Phat’s Phnom Penh Sugar has been at the centre of a years-long land dispute since the forced evictions of hundreds of families from his 8,343-hectare land concession in Kampong Speu began in February 2010.

In January 2013, the Post reported that children as young as 7 years old had worked on the plantation. The company subsequently took action to end the practice, which it attributed to subcontractors.

The Post revealed in January this year that ANZ Royal Bank had been financing the sugar plantation. ANZ moved to sever ties with the firm in the ensuing months, saying simply that it had “paid out its loan” and was no longer a customer.

“I cannot continue to work in a ministry that cannot find justice for people through the complaints system. I will step down from my position and from now on become a normal citizen,” Sinath wrote in her post to Facebook.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm%E2%80%99s-sister-officially-out-job