The disciplinary council of the Supreme Council of Magistracy has ordered a Supreme Court prosecutor to investigate alleged wrongdoing by Kompong Speu Provincial Court Prosecutor Kong Set, a council member said Thursday.
Judge Khiev Sameth, also director of the Kandal court, said the disciplinary council had finished questioning Kong Set over corruption complaints filed by the Envir-onment Ministry, and Supreme Court Prosecutor-General Uk Vith-un, who chairs the council, had appointed a prosecutor from his court to look into other complaints.
“It was not finished; it was just one case complained by the En-vironment Ministry,” Khiev Sam-eth said. “His Excellency the Pros-ecutor-General assigned one prosecutor to do additional investigations on three to four cases,” he added, but declined to say what allegations would be looked into.
According to a copy of the findings of a Justice Ministry investigation of Kong Set last year, the prosecutor had allegedly wrongfully released suspects, engaged in an extortion racket, and ordered En-vironment Ministry officials to transport illegally logged wood for use in constructing his house, among other offenses.
The man who led that investigation, Justice Ministry Inspector-General So Chanthy, said Thurs-day that Uk Vithun had violated a 2007 sub-decree by now ordering a prosecutor to investigate Kong Set.
So Chanthy said only his office of inspectors could conduct the investigations into Kong Set’s conduct.
The sub-decree also required that Justice Ministry inspectors appear before the disciplinary council to defend their findings against Kong Set, So Chanthy said, but Uk Vithun didn’t have the in-spectors attend the questioning.
He added that the Justice Min-istry planned to ask Uk Vithun to explain himself.
Uk Vithun could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Kong Set said Thursday that he had denied all the allegations against him before the disciplinary council, and added that there was no evidence against him. “Bring one cubic meter of wood or the cutters that I protected,” he said.
