The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday sentenced a 60-year-old woman to two years in prison for defrauding 20 would-be migrant workers of more than $32,000.
Em Sam Oeun was arrested in January after she collected a total of $32,740 from 20 people—ostensibly for passports, visas and “registration”—and told them that her Cambodian Organization for Veteran Economic Development in Meanchey district’s Boeng Tompun commune would find them work in South Korea. But the 20 were never sent abroad and filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labor.
“Em Sam Oeun is sentenced to two years and she is charged with fraud and activities causing misapprehension with the discharge of public functions,” Judge Kim Rothnarin announced Monday, ordering her to pay back the $32,740.
Also during the trial, deputy court prosecutor Khieu Phalla recommended that an arrest warrant be issued for Tok Sokoeun, an administrator at Ms. Sam Oeun’s company.
Judge Rothnarin said Mr. Sokoeun—who is still at large—should be prosecuted, but did not say if an arrest warrant had been issued.
