S’ville Official Accused of Destroying Property

Eleven angry families who allegedly encroached on state property in Sihanoukville last week filed a complaint in Siha­noukville Municipal Court charging the city’s governor with intentionally destroying their personal property, officials said.

Sihanoukville’s chief prosecutor, Mam Mith, said Monday he had registered the complaints of the banished villagers and is waiting for Prime Minister Hun Sen’s office to tell him what to do next.

“The investigation is finished,” the prosecutor said, adding that he had phoned the premier’s adviser Monday morning seeking advice on whether to prosecute Say Hak, the port city’s governor.

“If he says ‘yes,’ I will do it,” Mam Mith said.

Say Hak said he declared land where the villagers were growing jackfruit as state property and or­dered them to relocate in early 2002. When the villagers stayed put, he had their jackfruit trees chopped down in March and November of that year.

Mam Mith agreed with villagers that the governor’s measure was illegal, because, he said, Say Hak went over the court system.

“I did it on behalf of the government to protect state property,” Say Hak said Monday. “I did not do it for myself.”

The governor said the disputed tract is the future site of a water treatment facility being built with millions of dollars from a World Bank loan. He complained that the villagers were dumping sew­age into a reservoir on the prem­ises that long ago had been set aside for water conservation.

Mam Mith said the dispute could be resolved out of court if Say Hak would offer compensation to the villagers—a suggestion the governor dismissed.

“They should not complain against me individually because my action was based on the power of the local authority,” Say Hak said.

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