Kompong Chhnang provincial authorities attempted to prevent two local reporters from researching a news article on irregularities in fishing lots, the reporters said on Tuesday.
Sar Socheat, editor in chief of the Thngay Trang (Mid-Day) newspaper, and Sok Kim Sreang, editor in chief of the Damnoeung Pelthngay (Daytime News) newspaper, accused police in the province’s Kompong Tralach district of setting up a checkpoint and stopping their car about 40 km from Kompong Chhnang town.
Both editors said the police stopped their car in order to prevent them from reporting a story on fishing lots.
“The Kompong Chhnang governor, Sou Phirin, warned us not to publish an article about irregularities in the fishing lot bids in Kompong Chhnang province for 2003,” said Sar Socheat. “He said this was not his problem [and was under the authority] of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Ministry of Finance and the Fisheries Department.”
They also accused the governor of threatening them and said the governor falsely accused them of carrying weapons.
Sou Phirin said both editors requested bribes from him. He described the two as “naughty men.”
“They only asked for money,” he said, adding that the fishing lots are under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Finance.
Sar Socheat and Sok Kim Sreang said that during their investigation, they found that the owners of three fishing lots had paid $70,000 for each lot, while two other owners paid more than $200,000 for their lots. Although the price of concession rights for each fishing lot is different, the huge difference in the fishing lots’ prices sparked suspicion, the reporters said.
Touch Naroth, the provincial police chief, confirmed that police stopped both editors “in their Mercedes car.” He said the two editors were stopped because the police received a report that they were transporting illegal weapons and drugs in their car.
“We needed to stop them and check, and we only detained their car for about five minutes,” Touch Naroth said on Tuesday.
