Barang chgout wrote: ↑Thu Jul 25, 2019 8:45 pm Well, to be fair, China would argue they're Chinese, no?

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Exactly. And for the Cambodian authorities, they are Chinese and get extradited to mainland China.

Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 25, 2019 8:58 pm

Barang chgout wrote: ↑Thu Jul 25, 2019 8:45 pm Well, to be fair, China would argue they're Chinese, no?

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Exactly. And for the Cambodian authorities, they are Chinese and get extradited to mainland China.

Taiwanese get deported to mainland China:
post143585.html?hilit=taiwan%20china#p132316

Police officers charged with taking bribes from Chinese
26 July 2019
Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday charged three National Police officers with accepting bribes in exchange for the release of 18 Chinese nationals suspected of operating Voice over Internet Protocol scams in Kampong Speu province.

The three officers were identified as Soeu Sitha, deputy director of the Identification Department at the General Department of Identification; Rath Pin, Khmer Identity bureau officer at the General Department of Identification; and Van Sopheap, legal procedure bureau officer at the General Department of Immigration.

They were arrested on July 18 by the Interior Ministry’s Counter Terrorism and Transactional Crimes Department. The three officers were previously questioned by the Anti-Corruption Unit before they were sent to the municipal court.

Suos Vichearandy, court secretariat deputy chief, yesterday said the accused are now in pre-trial detention.

“They were charged for accepting bribes, attempting to obstruct law enforcement,” he said. “They are being detained at PJ prison.”

According to the Criminal Code, those accepting bribes could face punishment of between five to 10 years in jail, while attempting to obstruct law enforcement could lead to punishment between two to five years in jail.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50627618/p ... ng-bribes/

The original 18 Chinese prisoners are still in custody, pending their deportation to China.

UPDATE
September 1, 2020
Five former police officers on trial after soliciting bribes

THE trial of five former National Police officers, accused of soliciting bribes in exchange for the release of 18 Chinese nationals, began yesterday in Phnom Penh Municipal Court. The Chinese had been detained as they were suspected of operating a VoIP extortion scam in Kampong Speu province last year.

Presiding Judge Keth Socheath identified the four men as Soeu Sitha, 58, a former police major general; Rath Pin, 56, former police captain; Van Sopheap, 36, former police lieutenant colonel; Yin Vengleang, 42, former police major and Tha Sreyleak, 25, a former police major, who is Sitha’s daughter.

He said they were charged with being “the accomplices of unlawful confinement with aggravating circumstances, the offering of bribes and with unlawful interference in the discharge of public functions” under Articles 253, 254, 605 and 609 of the Criminal Code as well as a charge of ‘corruption’ which falls under Article 35 of the Law on Anti-Corruption.

If convicted, they each face up to 15 years in prison.

Judge Socheath noted that Sitha, Pin, Sopheap and Vengleang had been arrested on July 24 last year by the Anti-Corruption Unit but Sreyleak remains at large.

The arrests were made after they attempted to bribe police officers in Kampong Speu province with $50,000 for the release of 18 Chinese nationals, who had been detained over the operation of the extortion scam.

The 18 Chinese nationals had previously been arrested by the Kampong Speu provincial police on July 18 after a warehouse located in Svay Chib commune rented by the five accused had been raided. Officers confiscated 21 phones, five laptops, two printers, 33 desktops and six walkie-talkies in the operation.

Sitha did not attend yesterday’s trial but the other defendants were present to deny the allegations and request for the charges to be dropped.

They told the court that they were unaware that the 18 Chinese nationals had hired Sitha’s warehouse, and had only found out about this after Sitha had ordered them to take $50,000 from him in order to bribe the police officers in Kampong Speu province in exchange for the release of 18 Chinese nationals.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50759161/f ... ng-bribes/

I wonder how much hush money the indicted cops will have to pay to get as their Chinese brethren were able to do. I'm being whoever accepts the bribe money from the cops will be much careful than the their predecessors were.

What a fucked up system. No wonder Chinese never go to jail here.

I'm putting the over/under at $50,000, the amount last reported in this topic. Where are you guys placing your bets?

From this story, I take it that Cambodia may not be an ideal place for people who follow rules and regulations to do business. Is it possible to be successful in Cambodia doing business ethically, or is it like China, where corners must be cut and bribes must be paid?

I'm from the US, where people can get arrested and held accountable for business practices that are illegal in the US, but standard in other countries. I've watched people I know navigate through the complexities of doing business in China, where it seems to be essential to cut corners, grease palms, and use backdoor routes to get things done. Will they be caught by US officials, probably not, but it still worries me when I consider opportunities in Cambodia and the many shady steps that may be required to find success there. I think about Morgan Stanley exec Garth Peterson and how he got caught up in some of these adventures, then spent 9 months in prison.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-morg ... DV20120816