Land director removed after probe
THE director of the Banteay Meanchey provincial Department of Land Management, Urba n Pla nning, Const r uct ion and Cadastre, Prak Poly, will be removed from his position on Tuesday as a result of a probe into alleged corruption which has been concluded.
A letter signed by Seng Lot, t he director-genera l of the General Department of Administ rat ion at t he Minist r y of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, on Friday said that Chhan Saphan, standby secretar y of state, will ta ke charge of Poly’s tra nsfer.
“The ministr y has assigned Chhan Saphan to preside over t he t ra nsfer, accompanied by Seng Lot, Seng Sovanroatana, the deputy director-general of the General Department of Administration and Kosal Sopinak, the director of the Personnel Department,” the letter read.
The transfer comes after Minister of Land Management Chea Sophara created a working group to investigate Poly on July 30.
Sophara and Lot could not be reached by The Post on Monday for comment.
However, Sophara, who is a lso deput y prime minister, earlier told t he media t hat Ang Narit h, t he deputy director of t he Desig n St udy Depa r t ment at t he Minist r y of L a nd Management, w i l l replace Poly on Tuesday.
“The t ra nsfer is pa r t of t he nor ma l process to improve public ser v ices in accorda nce w it h gover n ment pol ic y a nd to ensure const r uct ion sa fet y a nd qua l it y urba n pla nni ng for cit i zens,” Sophara sa id.
The working group to investigate Poly was made up of nine officia ls.
Sa r Sova nn, secreta r y of state at t he Mi n ist r y of L a nd Ma nagement, was appoi nted cha i r, w it h Pen Cha nsok Khemara, t he genera l inspector at t he m i n i s t r y ’s G e n e r a l I n s p e c t o r a t e , deput y cha ir.
The group was to “inspect work related to land registration and construction, personnel management and the prov ision of public ser v ices. It was a lso to monitor the implementation of land regist rat ion. It wil l f i le a repor t wit h t he Ministr y of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction,” Sophara’s letter of July 30 said.
Som Chankea, the prov incia l coordinator at r ig hts g roup Adhoc, sa id t he transfer of Poly likely came as a result of the Ministry of Land Management investigation. It may have found irregularities regarding t he issuing of la nd registration documents that led to repeated protests, he said.
“We have seen t hat Poly issued tit les de s pit e t he l a nd c onc er ne d bei ng involved in a dispute. This led to f urt her protests. He issued documents to those with money and power, while the v illagers who occupied the land did not receive any,” Chankea said.
Accusations of corruption, nepotism and t he irreg ular issuing of la nd tit les had been levelled against Poly.
In one case, the government ordered that five families in Banteay Meanchey prov ince be given plots of land. When this failed to happen, Sophara launched t he investigation.
Local media reported Poly as say ing that he had not ignored the government sub-decree. He sa id t he la nd had not been demarcated because the families had chosen an area different from that mentioned in the sub-decree.