Prosecutor Says Bribery Charges Groundless

The man tasked with carrying out Hun Sen’s “iron fist” reform of the ju­diciary has said that bribery al­­legations made by government of­ficials against four Phnom Penh Mu­nicipal Court officials are without evidence.

Yam Yet, Battambang Provin­cial Court chief prosecutor, blasted the Phnom Penh Municipal police department on Tuesday for public­ly accusing the two Phnom Penh judges and two deputy prosecutor last month of releasing suspected criminals in exchange for bribes. Hun Sen later vowed to re­move the corrupt court officials.

Yam Yet, who has been as­signed to investigate the four court officials, said Phnom Penh police’s al­le­ga­tions against judges Kong Sar­ith and Ham Mengse and De­puty Pro­se­cutors Khut So­pheang and Siem Sok Aun were groundless.

Yam Yet said he received a letter from the Ministry of Justice on April 7, ordering him to press char­ges against the four. “The evidence is none,” Yam Yet said.

Though Phnom Penh Police Com­missioner Heng Pov has  claimed that evidence against the four is “overwhelming,” Yam Yet said the basis for the allegations amounted to only testimony from the suspected criminals, whom the four court officials were alle­ged to have wrongfully released.

“They have only accusations from some [alleged] robbers,” Yam Yet said. “It can’t be evidence. What happens if the ac­cused [court officials] deny [the ac­cu­sa­tions]?”

Repeated calls to Heng Pov  went unanswered Tues­day.

Tuot Lux, secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice, said that the Bat­tambang court has the right to make its own assessment of the case.

“We will pay at­ten­tion and investigate this case,” he said.

Though the accused deputy pro­secutors have been suspended, the two judges remain on the job.

Their case was transferred to the Battambang court after Min­is­try of Justice officials decided the Phnom Penh Municipal Court would not be able to independently examine the case.

Ham Meng­se said Tuesday that he would not comment. Khut So­pheang said he was too bu­sy to speak to a re­porter, while Kong Sar­­­ith and Siem Sok Aun could not be reached by phone.