Cambodia’s former ambassador to Japan has provided a more detailed account of his whereabouts since he left his post last year and said he cannot account for $700,000 he has been accused of embezzling.
Government officials recently filed a complaint against Truong Mealy (Fun) in Japanese courts, claiming he took rent money that a Japanese company paid for space in Cambodia’s Tokyo embassy in 1998.
The government has been unable to locate Truong Mealy since his term as ambassador ended, according to Ok Socheat, a member of the Foreign Affairs Commission in the National Assembly. But in an e-mail message sent from his Paris home and received on Monday, Truong Mealy said he has no idea why the government has not been able to find him.
After completing his diplomatic mission in March 1999, Truong Mealy said he came to Cambodia for more than one month to gather documents for historical research and kept a room at the Renakse Hotel. He then moved to Paris in May 1999, he said.
Staff at the Renakse hotel, however, had no record of Truong Mealy’s stay on their books for March and April 1999.
In Paris, Truong Mealy said he has been writing a book titled, “Cambodia-Japan: The Golden Book of Cooperation” and teaching English as a second language.
On Monday, Ok Socheat said he would alert Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong of the former ambassador’s whereabouts.
In his Monday message, Truong Mealy again denied any wrongdoing.
“I took nothing for myself,” the former ambassador wrote. “How I wish I could know the whereabouts of [the money]! How I wish I could pinpoint the ‘stealer!’”
In response to other allegations that he had stolen visa fees, Truong Mealy added that the Cambodian embassy in Japan sent more visa fees back to the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs than any other of the country’s embassies.
Last Tuesday, members of the National Assembly questioned Hor Namhong about lost visa fees from embassies abroad.
