Page 1 of 1

Pursat authorities take lenient attitude to fake monks.

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2016 9:43 am
by CEOCambodiaNews
That seems reasonable. On a scale of 1-10, if you are poor and desperate, posing as a fake monk is not up there with bag-snatching or robbery. Basically it's begging. Annoying but not life-threatening.

Image
The Pursat provincial religious department and police on Monday arrested two men who were impersonating monks and relentlessly collecting donations from residents at Pursat town.

Pursat town police chief Chhorn Rith said police made the arrest after a complaint filed by residents. The pair, identified as Soung Muth, 48, and Kong Bora, 34, were eventually released with only a warning.

He said their motives were likely financial as police found neither one to be suffering from a mental illness, but noted that they were both living in poverty.

“If we use article 194, they would face a monetary fine and a criminal case will be filed as well.

“However, so far because of tolerance we only educate them and let them go because we know that in some cases, they are not mentally fit or they are just desperately poor, that’s why they do that,” he added...
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/31620/ ... -released/

Re: Pursat authorities take lenient attitude to fake monks.

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 8:07 pm
by CEOCambodiaNews
Due to their extreme poverty, two Siem Reap men who were outed as fake monks were released by the police after being warned not to do it again.

Image

Military police in Banteay Meanchey province have issued warnings to two brothers who posed as monks to collect donations in Mongkul Borey market.
Provincial cults and religion department director Yin Khoeun said the monks looked different from normal monks, prompting district military police to arrest them.

“I assigned my deputy to go and check, but they did not have monk identity cards,” he said. “Then, I brought the two monks to the provincial buddhist hall chief and he confirmed that they were fake.”
The pair were defrocked and sent back to the provincial military police to take legal action.

Police identified them as Sambath Heng, 21, and Sambath Samborn, 20, from Siem Reap province.
Provincial military police judicial office chief Prum Theng said the men were forced to act as monks because of their desperate povery. “The two young men are living in difficulty because their parents are disabled, so they faked it as monks,” Mr. Theng said.
“After the warning, we invited their parents from Siem Reap province to come to take them back home.”...
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/34544/ ... monk-ploy/