Local construction giant Phanimex Co has filed a lawsuit with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court against the director of a South Korean company for allegedly signing millions of dollars in bad checks as a deposit on a Cambodian land deal, officials said.
In a letter addressed to Landevel Co Ltd’s Director Song Dong-soo, which was published in Koh Santepheap Daily newspaper December 13, well-known Phanimex Director Suy Sophan alleged that Song Dong-soo signed 10 checks totaling $10.9 million on Oct 18 but that the issuing bank rejected all of them.
“This made my company cancel the [sales] contract. This act shows that [Landevel] has given up its duties and violated the contract,” Suy Sophan wrote in the published letter, adding that the $10.9 million represented a 40 percent deposit on a $27.2 million land-sale agreement that was inked June 26.
Suy Sophan said by telephone Friday that her company published the newspaper ad and filed the lawsuit to cancel the contract officially and to request that the municipal court bring criminal charges against Song Dong-soo.
“[Issuing] checks with no money is a felony,” Suy Sophan said.
She declined to say where the land in question was located or to comment further.
Municipal court clerk chief Prak Savouth confirmed that Phanimex’s lawsuit against Song Dong-soo was filed Tuesday.
Suy Sophan’s lawyer Nach Try declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Song Dong-soo’s lawyer Chhiv Songhak denied that his client issued bad checks and claimed that it was Suy Sophan who violated the land-sale agreement by initially over-representing the size of the land in question.
“Madame Suy Sophan violated the contract, which states that the size of the land is more than four hectares,” he said, adding that Suy Sophan later said that the land was only around three hectares.”
Chhiv Songhak said that the land in question is located in Prampi Makara district’s Borei Keila community in Veal Vong commune, which was a slum area until it was developed by Phanimex for private housing.
