Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Yim Sokha charged this week that the director of Prek Kdam ferry in Kandal province has embezzled tens of thousands of dollars since 1998 by underreporting vehicles using the Mekong River crossing.
According to a report compiled by ferry employees, Director Phat Sareth failed to report 1,206 logging trucks using the crossing in 1998 and roughly 1,000 in 1999, Yim Sokha said.
Yim Sokha showed The Cambodia Daily what appeared to be handwritten bills demanding payment from logging companies of between $2,000 and $3,000 for multiple crossings.
Normally ferry operators issue official receipts for the $25 to $30 fee for individual drivers. The receipts, signed by Phat Sareth, were given to Yim Sokha by logging companies Colexim and GAT National, he said.
In February, undercover investigators from the Ministry of Public Works spent three days counting the vehicles using Prek Kdam ferry, a ministry official who asked not to be named said Tuesday.
Phat Sareth subsequently reported only 30 percent of the vehicles that crossed in those three days, the official said.
Phat Sareth on Tuesday denied the charges. “I never take money into my own pocket,” he said. “I know there are opposition Sam Rainsy Party members who work at Prek Kdam ferry, [but] it is not true. It is not right. They are trying to defame me.”
He denied there is anything unusual about the hand-written bills, saying he habitually issues official receipts to logging trucks without taking payment and later sends bulk bills to the logging companies.
Uk Chan, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Public Works, said Tuesday that “irregularities” at Prek Kdam were discussed at a meeting between ministry officials and directors of Cambodia’s three main ferry crossings in late June.
“We reminded [the ferry directors] to release the exact number of vehicle crossings,” he said, but conceded that no action has been taken against Phat Sareth.
Yim Sokha said he would raise the allegations when Minister of Public Works Khy Taing Lim appears before the National Assembly for routine questioning later this month.
