A businessman allegedly lost more than $150,000 when thieves broke into his car while it was parked for 20 minutes in front of Canadia Bank’s head office in Phnom Penh Wednesday afternoon, according to a police report describing the victim’s account of the supposed theft.
A security guard deployed at the bank’s entrance said none of the numerous guards stationed there Wednesday had noticed the reported break-in.
A Daun Penh district police report dated Dec 2 said that, according to businessman Kuoch Kuong Leng, 56, he and his son Kuoch Vengly, 30, parked their Lexus 470 on Monivong Boulevard in front of Canadia Bank’s head office to make a withdrawal of $20,000 at the bank at 1:25 pm Wednesday.
After returning to their vehicle 20 minutes later, they found that thieves had smashed one of the car’s back door windows and snatched a brown bag from the car that contained $143,000 and 55 million riel, or $13,750, the report said.
The two men had brought $32,000 and 55 million riel in cash Wednesday morning and withdrew another $111,000 from an Acleda Bank office in Srah Chak commune in Daun Penh district that day, according to the report.
A security guard stationed at Canadia Bank on Wednesday afternoon who declined to be named said the guards had been oblivious to the supposed heist taking place in front of them.
“We didn’t see the victim’s car [window] get smashed. We only saw the victim’s Lexus parked in front of the bank,” he said.
Police officers contacted yesterday were reluctant to discuss the case or to give details on the investigation.
Chuon Naren, chief of the municipal penal police department, said officers had completed their investigation at Acleda Bank and were now studying video recordings from security cameras posted at the site of the alleged break-in. “Now we are watching the video [recording],” he said, before declining further comment.
Canadia Bank officials said they were too busy to talk a reporter yesterday.
(Additional reporting by Paul Vrieze)
