Red Cross staffer arrested
THE deputy director of the Red Cross in Kampong Cham is in pretrial detention facing charges for allegedly falsifying documents in order to defraud the organisation.
Yin Chamnan, police chief in Preah Vihear province, said Meas Sam Oeun, 34, was arrested on Thursday and transferred to police in Kampong Cham immediately after.
He wasn’t able to specify the amount of money involved in the alleged fraud, saying only it was in the “many thousands of dollars”.
The Kampong Cham Pro- vincial Court issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to show up in court on multiple occasions and fled to Preah Vihear province, Chamnan said. According to a copy of his arrest warrant, Sam Oeun was charged with “infringing on the particular trust by the governor and falsifying public documents”.
“The suspect came to live in my province about five months [ago] and refused to comment on the case [involving] the Kampong Cham Red Cross,” Chamnan said.
Heng Vuthy, deputy police chief in Kampong Cham province, also couldn’t specify the amount of money involved in the case, but claimed Sam Oeun was not acting alone.
“We . . . sent [him] to the court on [Friday],” he said.
Vuthy said Sam Oeun had a gun with him at the time of his arrest, along with some 200 bullets.
Hout Vuthy, prosecutor at Kampong Cham Provincial Court, confirmed the court had sent Sam Oeun to pre-trial detention but declined to provide other details.
Uy Sam Ath, director of the Disaster Management Department of the Cambodian Red Cross, said he only became aware of the case through local media reports and could not comment further.