Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng told a group of international drug-enforcement experts last week that Cambodia’s judicial system was not up to the task of cracking down on drug offenders, according to attendees of Friday’s “Mini-Dublin” group meeting.
The deputy prime minister’s spontaneous remarks came at the end of a presentation in which he reiterated appeals for foreign aid and promised to make drug enforcement the nation’s top priority when seeking help from international donors.
“[Sar Kheng] said ‘we have problems with the judiciary, and we need a lot more support in the judicial sector,’” said Graham Shaw, an official with the UN Office for Drugs and Crime, who attended the meeting.
Khieu Sopheak, deputy secretary-general of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, also was at the meeting and confirmed Sar Kheng had made the remark, noting that he did not refer to any specific case.
The Mini-Dublin group is composed of drug control organizations, foreign embassies and overseas law enforcement agencies helping to fight drugs in Cambodia, Shaw said.
Sar Kheng also told the group, that the government “has decided to place the drug control issue at the very top of the list of priorities in…forthcoming discussions of the Consultative Group with donors,” according to a copy of his speech.
The Consultative Group is a collection of international banking organizations and donor governments that sets the base line for nearly all the foreign aid that comes into Cambodia. Putting drug control on the group’s priority list is “a fundamental first step,” toward Cambodia receiving the international aid it has been asking for, he added.
Sar Kheng also asked for help to fund a plan proposed by the UNOCD and NACD to use local NGOs to conduct a survey of the type and degree of drug use here.
Sar Kheng’s comments on the judiciary’s weakness came after investigations of several high-profile drug busts earlier this month ground to a halt.
Two high-ranking military officials and five customs department officials were arrested, charged and released in separate drug investigations.
