As the National Assembly today prepares to appoint three nominees to the newly created National Auditing Authority, opposition party members will try to convince lawmakers to choose at least one of them from the Sam Rainsy Party.
They say some of the expected nominees may not meet the legal requirements of the job, as outlined by the recently passed law creating the government’s auditing office. One of those requirements is that the candidates have a university degree.
The appointments are important, say the law’s proponents, because the authority could oversee all of the government’s financial activities and act as a major weapon against corruption.
The three front-runners have been known for some time. Chheang Vun, Cambodia’s current ambassador to Australia and a member of the Cambodian Peoples’ Party, is the expected choice for Auditor General.
The two Funcinpec lawmakers in line to become deputy auditors are Senator Chea Peng Chheang, a former undersecretary of state for finance, and Sam Ramsek, deputy chairman of the assembly’s finance and banking commission.
Opposition parliamentarian Son Chhay said Monday that while Chheang Vun appears fully qualified, Sam Rainsy Party lawmakers are prepared to raise questions about the deputies.
Son Chhay said the law setting up the auditing authority mandates a university degree, and Chea Peng Chheang offers “nothing to back up his claim of higher education.’’
Chea Peng Chheang maintained in a telephone interview Monday that he has both a bachelor’s degree and extensive field experience, as well as a master’s degree earned in Thailand.
According to his resume, he earned the degree in economics and rural development in 1992, as well as a second master’s degree in economics in the US in 1997, but does not identify the schools or indicate where in either country they are.
Parliamentarian Sam Ramsek’s application includes photocopies of his 1967 bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering from California State College in Long Beach.
He also included a copy of his US license to sell insurance, a certificate showing he took real estate courses in the US state of Oregon, and a 1967 certificate indicating he attended an automotive seminar to earn a “Doctor of Motors” degree, for “outstanding service to owners of automotive vehicles.”
He did not return a phone call seeking clarification.
The Sam Rainsy Party plans to offer as its own slate for consideration Yim Sokha, the party’s secretary general, for Auditor General, and cabinet chief Phi Thach and Ung Bung Ang as deputies.
Sam Rainsy said all three have the “capacity, education and experience’’ required, as well as the moral authority needed in such crucial jobs.
