A senior Defense Ministry official whose bodyguards were arrested Monday and questioned over the murder of a prominent businessman in Phnom Penh last month insisted Tuesday that his employees were innocent and said they would soon be released.
Major General Thong Sarath, a deputy cabinet chief at the Ministry of Defense who holds the title of oknha—an honorific bestowed upon wealthy businessmen, typically with close ties to the ruling CPP—was pulled over by municipal police in Chamkar Mon district with three of his bodyguards.
The bodyguards were escorted to municipal police headquarters for questioning over the murder of Ung Meng Chue, who was shot six times outside a fruit store on the evening of November 22.
On Tuesday, Maj. Gen. Sarath scoffed at the suggestion that any of his bodyguards were behind the murder, footage of which was captured by a security camera and has been shared widely via social media.
“We are cooperating with investigating police about the killing of Oknha Ung Meng Chue,” he said. “Three of them remain at the police station, but they are not involved in the killing. They will be released after 48 hours.”
According to Maj. Gen. Sarath, investigators believe one of the bodyguards, whom he identified only as “Sna,” was involved in the murder. But he claimed all three have alibis proving they could not have been involved in the crime.
That alibi, he explained, was a ledger his bodyguards had to thumbprint each time they checked in or out of work.
“We are pure gold,” he said. “We are not afraid of the flame.”
Maj. Gen. Sarath admitted that his bodyguards carried handguns, including a white-accented pistol resembling the one used by the gunman in the footage, but said this proved nothing.
“Based on the video clip, my bodyguards look different [than the shooter],” he said.
“Their wives are calling me crying,” he added. “I told them not to worry.”
Ung Meng Chue, who was chairman of the Shimmex Group, whose subsidiaries sell construction materials, jewelry, home furnishings and real estate, was gunned down just after stepping out of his Lexus SUV to buy fruit at a shop in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district. Following the murder, a teenage employee of the shop, who opened Ung Meng Chue’s driver’s side door to let him out, said two men on a motorbike pulled up and that the passenger sneaked up behind the tycoon before firing 10 shots toward him.
Major General In Bora, director of the Interior Ministry’s penal police department, said Tuesday municipal officers had taken the lead in questioning the bodyguards and were in the process of compiling a report to present to his department.
“After that, we will take their information [and use it] to find out who the killer is at the next mixed-forces meeting,” he said.
Deputy municipal police chief Chuon Narin, whose officers are investigating the murder with military police and the Interior Ministry’s penal police, could not be reached Tuesday.
Brigadier General Narin previously said that Ung Meng Chue, also an oknha, was killed over a business dispute.
Maj. Gen. Sarath, whose family’s Meanchey International Investment firm is behind a number of residential developments in Phnom Penh, said Tuesday he had never had any business dealing with the slain tycoon.
“I never knew Ung Meng Chue,” he said. “I never did business with Ung Meng Chue. I was not involved with him at all.”
