V&A and British Museum accused of holding ‘looted’ Cambodian art
Antiquities were stolen during civil war and peddled by ‘adventurer scholar’, say lawyers
CAMBODIA has accused the V&A of holding looted art handled by a British “adventurer scholar”.
Douglas Latchford, an art dealer who died in 2020, made millions of pounds selling antiques but was accused of trading in antiquities looted from ancient sites in conflict zones devastated by the Khmer Rouge. He was charged over a scheme to sell stolen art.
Cambodia has alleged that religious sculptures stolen from the country and then peddled by Latchford, a selfdescribed “adventurer scholar” also known by his adopted Thai name Pakpong Kriangsak – have been obtained by British museums including the V&A.
Lawyers acting for Cambodia, which was riven by violent unrest from the 1970s to the 1990s, have asked the UK to identify and return sacred artworks taken during these decades in looting that has been labelled a “war crime”.
The V&A and British Museum have been asked to explain where their objects came from – given claims that no legal exports of antiquities were authorised. Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary, has been asked to help by her counterpart Phoeurng Sackona.
Brad Gordon, a lawyer assisting the Cambodian government, said: “Objects were looted from conflict zones – that’s a war crime, it’s wrong.
“It’s insulting to 16 million Cambodians that objects that are nationally and religiously significant, that were taken illegally, are being held in museums. And these museums should have known better than to accept them.
“We’re asking them to help us assess how and when objects came into their collections. We have testimony from looters that objects they trafficked are in the British Museum and the V&A.”
Mr Gordon said looters had identified statues from the 9th to 15th century Khmer Empire in these museums, including sandstone male figures in the British Museum, and a 10th century bronze of Hindu deity Shiva in the V&A.
Mr Gordon believes there are more objects in both institutions and wants the museums to help identify them.
One of those alleged to have taken advantage of the chaos of Pol Pot’s regime in the 1970s, and the Communist group’s continued control of some areas into the 1990s, was Latchford.
The dealer held dual British and Thai citizenship and using bases in London and Bangkok traded in South East Asian art from the 1970s. In 2019 he was charged by US authorities, with an indictment saying he “engaged in a scheme to sell looted Cambodian antiques to the international art market”.
It stated that gangs stripped archaeological sites and Latchford acquired their stolen objects and sold them in the US and UK, after first creating false provenance information and documentation. Latchford maintained that he was not guilty, but said any antiquities that remained in Cambodia would have been shot for target practice by the Khmer Rouge. He died before the case progressed. In 2021 his daughter Nawapan Kriangsak agreed to repatriate the family’s collection of Cambodian artefacts.
The V&A has said it has no objects directly from Latchford, and all the provenance information it is aware of is on its website. The British Museum said “each object goes through a careful and thorough process before Trustees make a decision to acquire it” and its figure identified by looters was bought “in good faith” from a dealer in the 1970s.