A local newspaper publisher and editor was yesterday charged with extortion by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court over an attempt to squeeze money from a district police chief by threatening to publish stories of his alleged corruption. Ke Sareth, a Prek Phnov district police officer, identified the suspect as Doth Sadeth, 47, publisher and editor of The Rasmei Decho Newspaper.

 

Mr Sareth said that the suspect began calling his police chief, Lieutenant Colonel Chhin Kimthuy, on August 15, demanding $100 to not publish stories about him accepting bribes to release suspects. The suspect said if the police chief did not send the $100 via a Wing shop, he would publish the stories and report the chief to the Anti-Corruption Unit.

 

In response, the police chief set up a sting operation, in which the suspect was arrested by undercover police when he attempted to collect the $100 at a Wing shop in Chamkarmon district. “After his arrest, police confiscated the $100 and immediately sent him to Prek Phnov district police for questioning,” Mr Sareth said.

 

read more http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5078966/publisher-charged-extorting-police-chief/

 

 

-- © Copyright Khmer Times 21/08

That's a lot of dirty laundry being done in public.