A draft of the final audit on the beleaguered Cambodian Institute of Human Rights scheduled for release to donors today reveals that some $214,000 of stolen international aid money was hidden by falsified records.
The audit paints the most specific picture to date of the financial problems that destroyed one of Cambodia’s leading human rights organizations and the sterling reputation which drew donors from the US, Denmark, Sweden, the European Union, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Director Kassie Neou, who according to the audit was overpaid $9,870 during a seven-month stretch that ended earlier this year, said Wednesday that the audit confirms his suspicions that his former finance director was responsible for the mess.
Kassie Neou has filed a lawsuit at Phnom Penh Municipal Court alleging that finance director Nhim Sakal operated on his own to conceal more than $200,000 of donor funds. Investigating judge Ham Meng Se has not yet begun the trial.
Even as the results of the PriceWaterhouseCoopers audit were examined on Wednesday, Kassie Neou said he and his managers have tightened financial controls at the organization and that he hopes to win back donors’ trust.
“The CIHR is now reborn, revitalized and reformed,” he said.
The institute has sputtered along thanks to a $6,000 grant from Jeffrey Gallup, a US citizen and former adviser to the institute who now serves on its board of directors.
The former director of The Asia Foundation, Jon Summers, who leaves his post today for work in Afghanistan, would not make comments on the record about the status of funding for the organization. The Asia Foundation has been the principal donor of the Cambodian Institute for Human Rights. Staff at PriceWaterhouseCoopers reported that The Asia Foundation suspended its funding July 31.
The audit covers four grants totaling $797,531 from USAID, the US government’s development agency, that were spent by CIHR officers between Oct 1, 2000 and June 30 of this year.
The institute’s bookkeeping problems included a weak system for reporting cash advances to staff members and an incomplete list of the organization’s assets, such as motorcycles and computers.
The CIHR was founded in 1993 to promote respect for human rights through publications, education and training.
In July, the institute laid off nearly half of its staff and suspended a program that trains schoolteachers to integrate human rights lessons into the curriculum. Another program to promote discussions on human rights and democracy was also slashed in half.
Nhim Sakal was among the more than 40 staff members who were let go in the July reshuffle.
