Some 20 police officers on Monday morning, citing the expiration of a three-month business license, ordered the closure of a guesthouse at Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak lake that was scheduled to host a public forum on Friday informing residents of their rights as the lake they live along is filled in with sand by a private firm, officials said.
“The guesthouse has not fulfilled its obligation to keep its license up to date,” said Daun Penh District Deputy Governor Sok Penhvuth, referring to the Lazy Fish Guesthouse.
“If owners want to continue their business, they must seek a new license immediately after the expiration date, not keep it secretly and run their business with an expired license,” he said, adding that authorities are willing to grant the business owner a new license.
Mr Penhvuth said that he is asking authorities to compile a list of hotels and guesthouses in the area and to close those with expired licenses.
However, during a visit on Monday afternoon, the Lazy Fish guesthouse appeared to still be open.
“Police just told us they are here to see the lake,” guesthouse owner Hok Siphan said of his visit from the authorities. “They are not here to close my guesthouse. We still open the door for guests.”
Despite the guesthouse owner’s claims, Chan Soveth, an investigator with local rights group Adhoc, insisted that the guesthouse had been closed, saying that Mr Siphan was too “scared to report the facts” when he interviewed him after the incident.
“But [Mr Siphan] did clarify that those police officers told him the business cannot continue because of the three-month expiration,” Mr Soveth said.
On Monday evening, City Hall held a meeting with CCHR staff and a representative from the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights to discuss how to conduct the forum, which was scheduled for Friday but called off amid demands by local authorities that the organization obtain permission from City Hall.
Mr Penhvuth said that the event could go ahead, but that the owner or owners of the guesthouse that hosts the forum will need to sign, for security purposes, a letter endorsing the event.
“City Hall and local authorities will allow the public forum to be held whenever this organization can apply our requirements to have the fingerprint or signature of the owners to endorse with their letter the holding of the forum,” he said.
CCHR project coordinator Suon Bunthoeurn said that after Monday’s meeting it was agreed that the forum could proceed only as long as the owners of the venue signed an agreement.
“Now we are looking for a new location, and we are not sure it would be inside the Boeng Kak lake or outside this area,” he said.
(Additional reporting by Clancy McGilligan)
