Police probe discovery of burnt man in K Speu forest
KAMPONG Speu provincial criminal police are searching for suspects involved in the murder of a man in the forest of Thmey village in Phnom Sruoch district’s Chambak commune. Villagers found the burning body on February 28.
Provincial deputy police chief in charge of crime Sam Sak told The Post that authorities were investigating the case to identity the victim and perpetrators.
He said an autopsy revealed that the victim had been tortured before being burned.
“Until now, authorities haven’t been able to identify the body. We are also searching for who did this and how many people were involved,” he said.
Citing initial results of the autopsy, Sak said the victim was about 25 years old, had long hair, and had been severely burned. He said the victim had been wrapped in a white and blue nylon mat.
Phok Sambath, head of the provincial police’s autopsy bureau, said the body had gems in the upper right-teeth, wore a white shirt with a red T-shirt inside. Apart from the burns, there were eight stab wounds to the chest and extensive bruising to the head.
District police chief Say Bunthon said the victim’s body was found by villagers at around 1pm on February 28 while it was still burning.
MINISTER of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Veng Sakhon has denied recent accusations of widespread market fixing and price collusion within the ThaiCambodian pig import industry.
Sakhon claims that everything the ministry has done has been with the aim of preventing anarchic import practices which could lead to a spread of diseases in Cambodia.
Recently, a group of Thai traders claiming to be a company that imports pigs to Cambodia gathered in protest while holding up a banner with a picture of Prime Minister Hun Sen and requesting his intervention. They said that in recent days they have not been able to import pigs into Cambodia from Thailand due to tightened restrictions.
Local media outlet peoplenews. asia also reported a case where officials from the agriculture ministry allegedly colluded together to engage in a corrupt scheme whereby the ministry used its authority to create 12 new regulations or conditions for pig importers to meet in order to operate while setting up businesses as pig brokers on both sides of the border and ensuring that theirs would be the only import businesses in a position to meet these new conditions.
The media outlet cited an unnamed source who claimed to have received information from someone who knows well about the pig import business. It said pork prices in the Cambodian market will continue to increase higher in the near future because currently, a group of a sonin-law of the agriculture minister has grasped the principles of local companies and those in Thailand.
Responding to this accusation, Sakhon told The Post on February 22 that the ministry’s regulations were put in place to prevent African swine fever because the ministry had detected many cases of the disease from pigs imported from Thailand.
He claimed that illegally imported pigs that were found to have African swine fever are a serious risk that has led the ministry to take measures to prevent an outbreak, which could devastate the local economy.
A previous outbreak of African swine fever in 2019 saw Cambodia facing pork shortages with its domestic supply when thousands of infected pigs across the country had to be put down.
According to Sakhon, the ministry has issued a series of measures to reduce imports and promote domestic products including pigs. He said it was this work that had caused outrage among importers due to lost profits.
“It’s typical that corrupt traders would collude and try to turn this case on its head and make it an accusation against me and the agriculture ministry like we’re the ones who are corrupt.
“My son-in-law has no role related to the export and import of pigs to Cambodia. He is a normal cabinet official [working] to coordinate on my mission programmes only. These traders are trying to make me angry by bringing up my son-in-law, thinking they can muddy his reputation.
“This isn’t the first time they’ve tried it. This is very unfair to me,” he said.
Sakhon said the 10 companies currently permitted by the Cambodian government to import pigs had sole rights to collect pigs for importation from farmers in Thailand. He said the pig imports industry had to be regulated due to possible problems with diseases carried by the animals and anyone who wanted to import pigs had to receive permission and buy the pigs from the 10 firms.
In all cases, pigs that are imported from Thailand that fail to go through the 10 companies will not be allowed into Cambodia, according to Sakhon.
During the protest, a Thai woman complained that her business is currently facing difficulties because the Cambodian government has banned the importation of pigs.
“I present this picture as a message
to request and beg Prime Minister Hun Sen to help open up trade freely like previously.
“I have been running this trade business for about 20 years. However, what happened these past two months was that the Cambodian side banned my firm from importing pigs into Cambodia”.
Tan Phanara, animal health and production directorate directorgeneral, told The Post that the 10 companies which were granted the right to import pigs had met the 12 required conditions and that the accusations being made were misrepresentations.
He said the other firms which were not allowed to import the pigs did not fulfil the legal obligations or do the paperwork or follow administrative procedures.
The Post could not find contact details of those who were requesting Hun Sen to intervene.
Cambodia Livestock Raisers Association president Srun Pov told The Post that this issue is very controversial. As the association president, he was not comfortable interpreting anything that went beyond the bounds of his role as an industry expert. However, he said he supported the actions of the agriculture ministry in this case.
“It is hard for me to say because this is a problem between the ministry and the importers so our association doesn’t have a full understanding of the problem. We would only request that all imports be checked properly,” he said.
Pov added that generally the import of pigs from neighbouring countries is a bit more expensive than domestic pigs, which cost between 13,500 and 14,500 riel (around $3.50) per kilogramme. The costs had increased a bit when the pigs were transported to slaughterhouses.
Pov said that In general, the retail prices at the market cost between 22,000 and 23,000 riel per kg, while good meat can cost a bit higher. A pig, he said, does not cost as much.
With pig importers, farmers, slaughterhouses and retailers having all pointed the finger at each other over the high costs of meat, Pov said the association is seeking to arrange a negotiation among all the parties to lower the prices to a level the market can realistically bear.
The ministry said domestic pigs can meet 85 per cent of Cambodia’s needs and up to 6,000 pigs were imported per day.
In February, Cambodian officials found 30 illegally imported pigs from Thailand with African swine fever and they were slaughtered and destroyed.
Phanara of the animal health and production directorate said: “When we catch illegally imported pigs from Thailand and we know from Thailand that the [African swine flu] has broken out among their pigs, we have to take this issue seriously,” he said.
JAPAN has provided a 1.132 billion yen grant ($10.8 million) to Cambodia for the implementation of a Vessel Traffic System (VTS) at the Kingdom’s flagship deepsea port in Preah Sihanouk province to perk up maritime safety and efficiency, according to the Japanese embassy in Cambodia on March 1.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn and Japanese ambassador Masahiro Mikami on March 1 signed and exchanged notes concerning the official development assistance grant aid.
The grant came in response to a government request and is provided with a view to strengthening friendly and cooperative relations between Japan and Cambodia, the embassy said in a statement.
“It is expected that safety measures at the Sihanoukville port, the social and economic development of Cambodia and connectivity within the Mekong region will be improved as a result of this project,” the embassy said.
As Cambodia presses on with economic development, it is paramount that the quality of life of Cambodians improves in tandem, the embassy said, adding that Japan wishes to maintain its support to government efforts and will
implement a wide array of socio-economic development schemes to back up its claims.
The ministry said in a press release that the grant will significantly contribute to the promotion of socio-economic in Cambodia and will further expand the friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
Cambodia Logistics Association (CLA) president Sin Chanthy told The Post that the aid would help improve services at the Sihanoukville port, which frequently faces acute traffic congestion.
He said his association has asked Lou Kim Chhun, director-general of the deep-sea port’s stock-listed operator Sihanoukville Autonomous
Port (PAS), to set up a digital vessel performance monitoring system.
This, Chanthy said, would alleviate some of the freight congestion issues and provide the logistics and transport sector convenient access to accurate and timely data.
“This system will allow us to get accurate information when a ship is late, delayed or cancelled. It’ll be easier for us to prepare the documents needed for clearance.
“The more time we spend, the higher the costs, so I hope this round of assistance will be of help in this area,” he said.
Logistics Business Association (LOBA) president Chea Chandara voiced his expectation that this financing would
provide the wherewithal needed for the Kingdom to expand its container storage capacity and import the Lift-On LiftOff (LOLO) cargo handling equipment required to lighten traffic congestion at the port.
“The aid will help reduce the congestion of containers at the Sihanoukville port, and bring the calibre of the port to whole new heights,” he said.
In a recent filing to the Cambodia Securities Exchange, state-owned PAS reported a strong 15.6 per cent year-onyear rise in net revenue in the fourth quarter to $2.718 million, from $2.349 million.
However, the deep-sea port operator posted a 7.59 per cent year-on-year dip in sales revenue.