Three foreigners filed a complaint with Kampot’s provincial government on Monday against a police officer who they claimed had duped them into giving him money for various services, including renewing a visa, a provincial official said yesterday.
Sim Vuthea, deputy chief of the provincial administration office, said that the complaint was filed by two Canadian nationals and a Belgian who accused Chan Krisna, a Kampot provincial police officer, of taking payments of varying amounts from them and then fleeing the province with their money.
“According to the complaint, some of the foreigners paid $60, some of them paid $600. They were being cheated,” said Mr. Vuthea, adding that Mr. Krisna had also swindled them by telling them they could “buy Khmer nationality” if they wanted to stay longer in the country.
“We are working on this actively because we want to keep the good image [of Kampot],” said Mr. Vuthea. “We haven’t found Chan Krisna yet. He has gone missing.”
Provincial police officials could not be reached for comment.
Oliver van den Bogaert, 40, the Belgian national, said he had given Mr. Krisna $300 in early March to renew his visa, which is now more than 20 days overdue. He also handed over his passport to the officer. After realizing that he had been scammed, he reported the lost passport to authorities, and police searched Mr. Krisna’s house and found the passport there, Mr. van den Bogaert said.
“He’s ripped me off,” said Mr. van den Bogaert, adding that he knows of many other people who had been swindled by Mr. Krisna, but only he and the other two were willing to file a complaint.
Both Mr. van den Bogaert and co-complainant Frank Ruffolo, 52, said they were surprised by the turn of events, since they were well acquainted with Mr. Krisna, one of the only police officers in Kampot who speaks good English.
“I met him a couple years ago. He helped me get a birth certificate for my son,” Mr. Ruffolo said.
