Official charged after extortion video shared

A district forestry official has been held on abuse of power charges after a video of him leaked online extorting money from villagers transporting wood in Kratie province. The Anti-Corruption Unit detained Khoun Chivin who was shuffled to a new post this week from Chhlaung district to Kratie town, and sent him to the provincial court yesterday.

Provincial court spokesman Chea Sopheak said Mr Chivin was detained at the provincial prison yesterday. “He was charged with two offences,” he said. “The first charge is abuse of power and the second one is ignorance of forestry crimes under his authority.”

Kuy Hout, provincial agricultural department chief, said on Tuesday that the transfer of Mr Chivin was motivated by his wrongdoing as witnessed in video footage posted on news website Fresh News. “Now, I take $10 per truck and the other smaller car is 15,000 riel ($3.75),” Mr Chivin said in the video, apparently taken by one of the loggers he was extorting.

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