Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday sentenced a man, identified by his lawyer as an adviser to Funcinpec’s Deputy Prime Minister Nhiek Bun Chhay, to seven months in prison and five years’ probation for fraud.
Judge Kim Ravy handed down the verdict to Keo Vannak, who was found to have masqueraded as an undersecretary of state and duped a woman into giving him food and money between 2004 and 2005 in return for promising to give her husband a government job.
Contacted by telephone, Nhiek Bun Chhay denied that Keo Vannak, a 44-year-old Funcinpec member from Battambang province, had served him as an adviser.
“He was never my adviser, he was a soldier,” Nhiek Bun Chhay said. “He cheated a lot of people,” he added, accusing Keo Vannak of tricking Battambang Funcinpec members out of motorbikes.
Ngeth Sarath, the court’s deputy prosecutor, said a complaint was filed against Keo Vannak by Battambang resident Keo Sokmanil, who stated that she had provided money for phone cards and gasoline to Keo Vannak after he promised to secure her husband a deputy director position at a department in a government ministry.
“[Keo Vannak] said he was an undersecretary of state, that’s why she paid him with food and other things,” Ngeth Sarath said.
Keo Vannak was also found to have tricked another Battambang resident into buying his car for $1,000, and then failed to hand over the vehicle, Ngeth Sarath said.
Keo Vannak was also found to have stolen a motorbike from Funcinpec’s local headquarters in Battambang’s Ratanak Mondol district, but he was charged with fraud for this rather than theft, Ngeth Sarath said.
Keo Vannak was arrested in Phnom Penh on Sept 2.
Heng Sotheavannarith proclaimed his client’s innocence on all counts. “[Keo Vannak] did not cheat anybody,” the lawyer said.
Keo Vannak was found innocent of allegations he defrauded his former girlfriend Chroeng Vannary, who claimed in court that he had taken $2,500 from her.
“He said he was an Excellency and would marry me but he was not an Excellency,” she told the court.
