Funcinpec Secretary-General Nhiek Bun Chhay on Monday dismissed local media reports that royalist party President Prince Norodom Ranariddh has asked for his bulletproof Porsche to be shipped to France.
Contradicting the reports, Nhiek Bun Chhay said that the prince is planning to return to Cambodia later this month. The Porsche reports—hinting that the Prince intends to remain outside the country—had been planted in the press to sabotage the party, he said.
“[Prince Ranariddh] doesn’t need to send his car to France because he has cars in France,” Nhiek Bun Chhay said. “The information is not true.”
The report, attributed to anonymous sources, appeared in at least three local newspapers on Saturday and then again on Monday.
Funcinpec lawmaker Monh Saphan said that he has been inundated by questions from other lawmakers about the car following the newspaper reports.
“The information is aimed to cause an internal split within the Funcinpec party,” he said.
“They want to make party officials lose confidence in Funcinpec while the leader is not in the country,” he added.
However, one of Prince Ranariddh’s personal bodyguards said on condition of anonymity Monday that the Ministry of Public Works and Transport was working on the papers for the car to be shipped abroad.
Ministry of Transport Secretary of State Chum Iek, a Funcinpec member, said he did not know if the report was correct.
An embattled Prince Ranariddh left the country on March 14, after his party lost a host of top government positions and his officials come under a barrage of criticism from Prime Minister Hun Sen over issues as diverse as extramarital affairs, incompetence and nepotism.
The National Olympic Committee, which is headed by the prince, was also accused lavishly spending its scarce funds.