Ang Mealaktei, the disgraced former director of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, has checked out of a private medical clinic and will appear before the Kandal Provincial Court today for the start of his trial on embezzlement charges, officials said.
Mr. Mealaktei stands accused of unlawfully gifting his son—a deputy district police chief in Phnom Penh—an Audi SUV that was confiscated from a convicted drug dealer during his tenure as the municipal court’s top judge.
He was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Unit in August, and reportedly transferred from the Kandal Provincial Prison to the Khema Clinic in Phnom Penh to receive treatment for hemorrhoids —although a receptionist told reporters earlier this months that his name was not on the register.
“I ordered him to leave hospital a few days ago to join the hearing,” provincial prosecutor Lim Sokuntha said on Wednesday.
“The court will try him tomorrow.”
