Members of the government and private sector met yesterday in Phnom Penh to discuss ideas and solutions aimed at facilitating the growth of eco-friendly technologies and practices in Cambodia.

Speaking at a forum organised by EuroCham, E Vuthy, adviser to the Ministry of Environment, said the government was committed to pushing forward an overreaching environmental code, which, once completed, will secure a regulatory framework for sustainable private and public sector initiatives.

However, while releasing few details or a dedicated timeline for implantation, he said the code had been bogged down by a lack of human resources and dedicated inter-ministerial coordination.

“The current laws concerning the environmental code have been done in a piecemeal matter across numerous ministries without reliable or effective regulations to promote a green strategy,” said Vuthy, who also chairs the technical working group tasked with creating the code.

“Most of the laws on the books date back to the 1990s and don’t conform to the country’s current industrial climate.”

Vuthy said the Environment Ministry was working with both the public and private sector to finalise a coherent draft that brings all stakeholders together.

He praised the private sector for leading green business solutions, adding that the environmental code would “try to establish a clear regulatory framework for sustainable energy that could see a joint credit mechanism for investment”.

The mechanism, he said, would bring relief to the private sector that typically has to shell out large amounts of start-up capital.

However, he added, “that historically, implementation has been a very complex mechanism. The questions we face are ones of overlapping legislation, a limited time frame to implement and a lack of human resources.”

Carlo Figà Talamanca, chief executive of Sustainable Green Fuel Enterprise (SGFE), applauded the government’s willingness to work with the private sector on developing strategies.

His company, which produces “green charcoal” from recycled charcoal remnants and discarded coconut shells, received a three-year value-added-tax (VAT) exemption at the beginning of 2016.

“A simple VAT exemption has allowed for my product to become more competitive within the cooking fuel market,” he said.

Talamanca added that if more incentives were offered, the private sector would jump on board, which could spur more innovative business solutions across the green spectrum.

Ken Sereyrotha, deputy secretary-general for the National Council for Sustainable Development, agreed that the government should take the lead in incentivising green solutions.

However, he warned that innovation must be within a viable Cambodian context that provides forward-thinking long-term sustainability.

“We believe strongly that a set of exemptions would help increase green business in Cambodia. But we have to strategise and adopt positive solutions because we don’t want Cambodia to be a dumping site for outdated technology.”

Newly appointed Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak issued a shot across the bow yesterday at individuals and companies that infringe on the intellectual property of other firms, warning his ministry was ready to take action against violators.

“Intellectual property plays an important role in promoting trade, especially for small- and medium-size enterprises that have intelligent and innovative products,” he said during an event marking World Intellectual Property Day. “The ministry will crack down on counterfeit products in accordance with the law.”

He said enhancing knowledge of trademark protection was vital for protecting Cambodia’s growing entrepreneurial ambitions.

According to the Commerce Ministry, there are 44,636 active trademarks registered in Cambodia, while another 14,651 have expired. Nearly 8,300 trademarks are pending approval.

Sim Sokheng, director of the ministry’s department for intellectual property, said that a total 6,284 trademark applications were received last year, with nearly 1,500 submitted during the first quarter of 2016, a 10 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

“We have tried to promote intellectual property protection and expect that the level of applications will continue to increase,” he said, adding that Kampot pepper and Kampong Speu palm sugar, as well as Cambodia music, were some of the best-known protected goods.

Bretton Sciaroni, a senior partner with regional law firm Sciaroni and Associates, said that intellectual property protection builds investor confidence, while counterfeit goods undercut brand prestige.

“There are still a lot of problems for enforcing Cambodian and international trademark protection,” he said. “In any market you can find not just counterfeit CDs and DVDs, but also tobacco, alcohol and clothes.”

“If we get trademark protection right, it makes Cambodia more attractive for investors. If we don’t, it will decrease confidence,” he added.

Un Chanboran, sales and marketing director of Kingtel Communications Ltd, a new internet and telecom service provider, said that his company is waiting for trademark approval from ministry.

“Trademark and logo protection is important for our company because we are worried that our market reputation will be damaged by counterfeit uses,” he said.

A Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge yesterday prohibited lawyers for two opposition lawmakers beaten outside parliament last year from probing the suspects for the name of their commander in the Prime Minister’s Bodyguard Unit.

Soldiers Mao Hoeung, 34; Sot Vanny, 45; and Chhay Sarith, 33 – all members of the premier’s elite corp – yesterday faced their first day of trial, charged with intentional violence with aggravating circumstances and property damage over the October 26 attack on Cambodia National Rescue Party parliamentarians Kong Saphea and Nhay Chamroeun, who were dragged from their cars and beaten by at least 16 men.

The charges carry sentences of up to five years each. Under questioning by Sam Sokong, a lawyer for the victims, Sarith, the only suspect to take the stand yesterday, admitted that he and his co-defendants were Bodyguard Unit members, though the line of questioning soon strayed into territory that deputy prosecutor Sin Vireak claimed was unsuitable.

“You work in the bodyguard unit. Did you come to the parliament by yourself or were you ordered? And who did you report to?” Sokong asked Sarith during the two-hour hearing.

“I came by myself,” Sarith answered, before addressing the second query by saying, “I would like not to answer.”

Almost immediately after the question, Vireak interjected.

“This is a case of an individual committing an offence. If [the lawyer asks] questions [like this] it affects the individual’s rights. Please don’t raise [this question] in the trial,” Vireak said, before asking judge Yeng Sok Na to prohibit the plaintiff’s lawyers from asking questions relating to the men’s superiors, a request Sok Na granted.

Sok Na said the victims’ lawyers could submit the relevant questions for his consideration.

Evidence revealed by the Post yesterday suggests soldiers were ferried from a Bodyguard Unit base in Takhmao district – which is under the command of deputy Bodyguard Unit chief Lieutenant General Deang Sarun – to the parliament on the day of the attack. The Post has been unable to contact Sarun.

The assault took place following a demonstration by thousands of pro-CPP supporters who were calling for CNRP acting president Kem Sokha to step down as the National Assembly’s first vice president.

After the attack, the bodyguards’ chief commander, Lieutenant General Hin Bun Heang, denied involvement by the unit, which is under the command of the premier, who alluded to the protest the day before it happened but has denied the ruling Cambodian People’s Party orchestrated the violence.

In a recent interview, Saphea – who, like Chamroeun, opted not to attend yesterday – identified Sarith as the man who ripped him out of his car.

Saphea recalled Sarith spoke into a walkie-talkie while gesturing to his car as he approached.

Yesterday, under questioning by judge Sok Na, Sarith, however, maintained he did not know his victim was an opposition lawmaker during the attack. “I did not know. If I knew, I would not have dared to beat him. I confessed when I found out he was a lawmaker,” said Sarith, who appealed for a lenient sentence.

Sarith admitted he had beaten the lawmakers, who he claimed insulted him, but rejected the charge of property damage, which relates to the damage sustained by the victims’ cars.

“His car stopped and the window opened and he shouted at us that we were ‘youn’s puppets’ and asked ‘why did you come here?’”, Sarith said, using a word for Vietnamese people some consider derogatory.

“I went to open the door [of the car]. I beat him once with my hand on his face, pulled him down from the car and kicked him one time on the body.”

After the hearing, Sokong told reporters he would push the court to permit questions about the Bodyguard Unit commanders at the next hearing, scheduled for May 10.

While a total 16 men were seen participating in the beating on video, Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, said the government wanted the case to finish with just the three suspects.

“The take away is that this trial is all for show, the real truth of the breadth of this brutal, orchestrated attack will not come out, and the Cambodian judiciary remains a trusted lap-dog of the CPP,” Robertson said.

More than 100 vendors in Stung Treng yesterday expressed concern that the location of their stalls would change after the town’s fire-damaged market is rebuilt by provincial authorities.

Prime Minister Hun Sen promised to rebuild the market in the provincial capital, which was damaged by a fire before Khmer New Year, but the vendors are not confident that they will get to keep their old spots.

They also asked why the new market will have 1,320 stalls instead of the 1,220 that the old one had.

Men Kong, a spokesman for Stung Treng Provincial Hall, said the authority met with vendors about the plan yesterday and said that, eventually, “the authority will release 3D planning” for approval.

Two Laotian men were chased down and arrested yesterday while allegedly carrying almost a kilo of meth across the border into Cambodia’s Stung Treng province.

Nou Hou, provincial anti-drug police chief, said officers had been tracking the suspects, Thau Bunmei Many, 33, and Sang Kang Veongsay, 32, who were apprehended near the border at 7:30am.

“The suspects were hiding the drugs, weighing 999.5 grams, inside their bags. It’s metamphetamine powder,” he said.

He said during the raid in the forest, one suspects tried to flee, but police fired a warning shot, which stopped the man in his tracks.

Three senior Adhoc staffers resumed their questioning at the Anti-Corruption Unit yesterday and were joined by women’s rights advocate Thida Kus, Adhoc’s Lem Mony and the National Election Committee’s Ny Chakrya.

As they were grilled inside, yet another new purported audio recording of CNRP acting president Kem Sokha was released on Facebook, this featuring an alleged conversation with a Kampong Cham commune chief jailed on bribery charges.

Yi Soksan, Ny Sokha and Nay Vanda returned to the ACU at 8am yesterday, following a marathon interrogation session on Wednesday that ran late into the night.

The trio, along with Mony, a senior observer at Adhoc, and Ny Chakrya, deputy secretary-general of the NEC and a former Adhoc employee, had yet to emerge from the ACU offices at press time. Adhoc president Thun Saray told the Post there was little hope the five would be released.

The new audio recording – released on The Truth of CNRP Facebook page, which has hosted previous alleged Sokha phone conversations – purports to feature Sokha and Seang Chet, a Sam Rainsy Party commune chief from Kampong Cham who was sent to temporary detentionon Wednesday on accusations of attempting to bribe a witness.

In the recording, a man, who sounds like Sokha, asks the other man on the call, allegedly Chet, to ask a third person, referred to only by a gender neutral Khmer term for niece or nephew, to “not change the stance and to not be afraid or change the answers”.

The man goes on to say that he had discussed the issue with a legal officer from the UN and that the government had no case, only to add that if the third person was mistreated, they could consider moving that person abroad.

Yesterday’s recording follows a flurry of similar audio recordings released in early March – first on a Facebook page attributed to a “Mon Srey” and almost simultaneously on a page called The Truth of CNRP.

Thus far, no publicly announced investigation has been launched by law enforcement officials into whether the recordings were the result of phone tapping.

When CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said in a March interview that he was confident of the authenticity of the recordings released then, adding that they were recorded by the woman, supposedly Chandaraty. Yesterday, however, he was at a loss to explain the recordings’ origins.

“They have techniques to record voice via phones,” he said, without explaining to whom “they” referred. “There is no need for a telecom company to tape the sound.”

Back at the ACU, Kus told reporters she had been questioned by ACU boss Om Yentieng and three other officials and was asked about her interaction with Sokha’s alleged mistress, Khom Chandaraty, as well as Adhoc.

“I told him I was not deeply involved with Srey Mom [Chandaraty],” she said. “The accusation against me was that I instructed Srey Mom to lie, and with regards to my relation with Adhoc, I said that I worked with civil society groups regularly.”

A Fisheries Administration officer in Siem Reap was charged with accepting $369,000 in unofficial payoffs yesterday after being arrested by the Anti-Corruption Unit on Tuesday.

Rem Som Un, who works at the fisheries department of Damdek commune in Sotr Nikum district, allegedly took bribes from fishermen and poachers in his area. If he is found guilty, the penalty could range from two to five years in prison and a fine of 4 million to 10 million riel (about $1,000 to $2,500).

“The provincial court just charged him with misappropriation of public funds and he was questioned by the investigating judge,” said Ream Chan Mony, a deputy prosecutor. “We are going to investigate more.”

Sous Narin, provincial coordinator for the rights group Adhoc, said he had not received any complaints from fishermen in Damdek commune.

However, Fisheries Action Coalition Team program manager Senglong Youk said bribery was rampant across the province. Some wealthier fishing enterprises, including ones from Vietnam, could be charged more than $1,000 per night of fishing, while poorer Cambodian fishermen often had to pay smaller bribes.

He added that officials often allocated the most abundant fishing areas to those who paid the most, and turned a blind eye to violations of fisheries laws in exchange for bribes.

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s call last December for the Justice Ministry to be more discerning in who it issues pardons to appears to have been heeded.

The Justice Ministry recommended the prime minister pass on the names of just three prisoners to the King for pardoning, along with 77 to receive reduced sentences, according to ministry spokesman Kim Santepheap.

A similar amnesty last year for Khmer New Year saw 70 recommended for release and hundreds to be given reduced sentences.

“The position of the National Committee [of Pardons and Reduced Sentencing] under the leadership of His Excellency the minister of justice will become even stricter,” Santepheap said yesterday. “Pardons and reduced sentences cannot be handed out without care.

“It has to be in line with how rehabilitated they are and whether they pose a danger to society once out of prison.”

The three prisoners who were recommended for full pardons were within months of completing their sentences and had not been convicted of serious offences, Santepheap added.

“This time we didn’t give consideration to some crimes, such as drug offences, robbery and theft,” said Santepheap.

“We also consider the victims. If they are someone’s child, a woman, or a father, then we cannot issue a pardon.”

Detainees at the notorious S-21 prison were sometimes methodically drained of blood and Western captives were publicly interrogated by prison chief Duch and burned alive, a former interrogator told the Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday.

The witness, Prak Khan, yesterday told the court how both Vietnamese soldiers and civilians were captured and detained at S-21, including a child who was dragged away from its parents by a Khmer Rouge combatant and dropped from the first floor of a prisoner registration office.

“The child subsequently died … [The combatant] signalled me to take the dead child and bury it,” Khan said. He described how medics drew copious amounts of blood from their prisoners until they were motionless, but still breathing.

After the blood had been drawn, Khan said, prisoners “were thrown to a corner of the room and they were piled up there”, before being taken in a cart to be buried.

“I was shocked upon seeing the blood being drawn from the prisoners but I did not show it,” he said. “During the regime, I knew what was right and what was wrong . . . I did not dare to speak to anyone about it.”

Khan estimated he carried out 20 interrogations, some lasting for two months, and in his very first interrogation – of Eng Meng Heag, known as Chhon – he resorted to violence.

Khan initially refused to answer why he had beaten his prisoner, because of the “burden” the question placed on him, but relented and said he needed to “scare” the prisoner.

“I beat the prisoner with tree branches because he changed his confession … I had to use violence so that he could produce a more complete confession.”

He said S-21 head Duch – also known as Kaing Guek Eav, who was convicted in the tribunal’s Case 001 – personally interrogated American and Australian prisoners.

Although he did not witness their fate, Khan heard from fellow cadres the Westerners were taken out to the road, had tyres placed on them, and were burned.

During his testimony, Khan also detailed political study sessions, led by Duch, who instructed interrogators to humiliate prisoners and treat them like animals by making them eat faeces and worship images of dogs.

The witness also defended the killing of former Lon Nol soldiers in the days after the liberation of Phnom Penh in April 1975. “If we had not killed those people, they would have killed us back,” Khan said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday doubled down on his call for political parties to help ease the drought, suggesting his opponents were using the situation for political gain while also floating novel remedies, including damming the Tonle Sap.

“[I] took the opportunity to appeal to some politicians and political parties to stop exploiting natural disaster in Cambodia for their benefit,” he said. “When the country was affected by floods, they [also] accused the government of deforestation as well as drought.”

Asked to comment, opposition spokesman Yim Sovann said: “It is the obligation of the ruling party to take responsibility for the people when the country faces natural disasters.” Deforestation and filling in ponds and lakes weren’t relief measures, he added, tongue in cheek.

Hun Sen also said he would look into cloud seeding and blocking the flow of the Tonle Sap river to create reservoirs – suggestions he received from citizens online.

Mekong River Commission technical adviser Ian Thomas said anything that restricted the river’s flow would hurt the environment and make remaining water less safe.

Anti-trafficking and military police yesterday raided a purported spa business in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changvar district and removed 13 young women suspected of being detained illegally.

The young women, whose ages ranged from 14 to 22 years old, were questioned by officers from the anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection department, said the chief of the department’s Phnom Penh office, Sen Komonn.

Three adults – including a Thai national – and the cook were also questioned by police.

More than half of the girls were underage, Komonn said. But police were still unsure if any charges were going to be filed against the spa owner. “They lured the girls,” he said. “They kept the girls at a hidden location.”

The business has been shut down, according to Seng Chieng, military police chief in Chroy Changvar district.

A 15-year-old staying at the villa called her family on Tuesday to take her home after she found out some of the girls might be sent to Thailand, Komonn said.

When a relative showed up to pick her up, an assistant at Malica Spa and Health refused to let the girl go unless she returned $100 she had been paid, Komonn said. The girl’s relative reported the incident to police, which led to the bust.

Sorn Sophal, municipal director of the department of social affairs, veterans and youth rehabilitation, said the victims would be asked if they wanted to return home or if they wished to be referred to an NGO.

“If they want to go back home, [we] will send them home,” Sophal said.

The villa’s owner, Mean Sovanly, said she leased the building to spa owner Chan Malica at the end of January, and the girls moved in on April 18.

“I saw the girls go in and out to the market,” she said. “They had freedom.”

Malica, who was driving from Battambang to Phnom Penh yesterday after her business was closed by police, claimed it was only a spa and the young women were being trained in anticipation of the official opening in July.

Police said her business was not licensed, but Malica maintained she was in the process of preparing the paperwork for registration before opening in the summer.

Malica said that she recruited the girls from remote areas, and said only the hard-working ones and those older than 18 years old were going to be hired.

When asked why she was recruiting girls as young as 14, she claimed she wanted to help the girls gain skills.

“I hired a Thai spa trainer to teach them,” she said. “Those girls are poor, illiterate and living in rural Cambodian areas. We let them live and work here because our house is big.”

The girls were getting paid $40 per month, she said.

“My mistake is [that] I brought all of the girls, and even underage girls because I wanted them to have skills,” she said.

The Kandal provincial governor’s office issued a letter on Tuesday responding to a complaint filed by residents in February against the construction of an antenna for the Cambodia National Rescue Party’s (CNRP) proposed Sun TV channel.

The letter passed responsibility for dealing with the complaint to the ministries of land management, information and telecommunications, adding that no construction should take place until “a compromise is reached and local residents have given their approval”.

The complaint was signed and thumbprinted by 21 individuals living near the proposed antenna site in Kandal’s Takhmao town, citing fears of radiation poisoning.

“We called on the authorities to prevent the construction because this antenna will affect our health,” said complainant Seav Bou, 47. “We will wait and see what the majority of people want, whether they continue to complain or not – I will take the majority voice.”

The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency website reports that research from health authorities around the world, including the World Health Organization, suggests “there are no established health effects” from exposure to radio frequencies and electromagnetic energy emitted by broadcast towers.

CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann also noted yesterday that there was no majority objection from nearby residents.

“I don’t know what the authorities, especially the governor of Takhmao town, is thinking, because if they think what a few people think is right, why can others build [antennae] in other cities?” Sovann said.

But Takhmao Town Governor Heng Theam disagreed.

“Now there is a complaint from the people, so we have to wait until there is a compromise. If they want to continue with construction, they have to go talk with the people living there and get their approval.”

But Sovann questioned why it had taken until February for residents to voice their concerns, and wondered aloud whether there was something else motivating villagers.

“When we bought the land, nobody talked about that, and when the land title was transferred to the company and the company submitted a proposal to build a tower,” he said. “And then they reject our proposal based on people’s complaints?”

“I don’t know what’s behind them, but I doubt the complaint,” Sovann added.

He said that while there had not been any official obstruction of Sun TV’s development so far, he added that the government “would like to play the game, you know?”

A military police officer was shot and killed during a shootout with an alleged drug-trafficking gang in the capital’s Tuol Kork district yesterday afternoon.

In a video released to local media of the incident on Street 351, at least two gunshots can be heard during the standoff. Soon afterwards, officers drag two suspects out onto the pavement and kick them before putting them in a police vehicle.

Military police spokesman Eng Hy said officers arrested three suspects, with the ringleader shot and killed.

“One military police member was also shot dead,” Hy said yesterday evening, adding that the officer, who was not identified, was taken to hospital but died soon afterwards.

“We confiscated a car and some other things; though all details are not clear yet as the operation is still in progress.”

However, Tuol Kork Military Police chief Tan Utaroa said five suspects were detained, with one shot dead during the joint operation, which concluded about 6pm and included National Police forces.

“We are still searching in the house. We found some guns, but I don’t know how many, as our forces are inside the building. We arrested five and killed one,” he said.

Senior officials from Thailand’s Mine Action Centre are visiting their counterparts in Cambodia this week in an effort to develop stronger bilateral cooperation to clear landmines along the Cambodian-Thai border.

Wittaya Wachirakul, director of the Thailand Mine Action Centre, and nine other senior officials arrived on Monday for a four-day visit.

Thai officials will tour three provinces – Kampong Chnnang, Battambang and Siem Reap – to see landmine and mine-sniffing dog training.

Heng Ratana, director-general of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre, said the visit is aimed at improving relationships and exchanging ideas.

“We had just looked to share experiences of the dogs’ [training],” he said, adding that Cambodia has 72 trained dogs.

Both entities are planning a joint effort to clear landmines along the border, which will first focus on landmines at the O’Neang checkpoint between Banteay Meanchey province and Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province.

The Cambodian-Thai border was heavily mined in the 1980s as a part of the controversial K-5 plan by the Cambodian government and casualties there from unexploded ordnance are still common.

Government figures on UXO casualties for 2015 through February 2016 show that five of the top six provinces for casualties are located along the Thai border.

Some 70 garment factory workers were in­jured yesterday morning when a truck overturned in Kampong Speu’s Odong district.

Kampong Speu provincial police chief Keo Pisi said the truck’s tyre exploded just after 6am, causing it to topple and spill the 70 workers onto the road – the latest in a string of traffic incidents involving factory workers.

“No one is dead and those who were injured were sent to hospital immediately,” Pisi said.

Kampong Speu Free Trade Union official Nan Saron said five victims were seriously injured and sent to Phnom Penh’s Calmette Hospital, while others were treated at the provincial hospital and a clinic.

He said the tyre burst because the truck was going too fast and appealed to drivers to take care when transporting large numbers of people.

Saron explained the truck belonged to the driver, who regularly transported scores of workers, and not to any of the four Kampong Chhnang factories to which the workers were travelling – Can Sports Shoes, Jiun Ye Garment, Tak Fook and Horizon Outdoor.

The driver, Chheng Bun Roeun, 24, was detained for questioning and has been sent to court over the incident.

Factory worker Sok Ey, 25, who sustained multiple injuries in yesterday’s crash, said: “The truck was driving so fast; then we overturned on the road with many people. I injured my arm, shoulder and leg. We were so panicked,” Ey said.

Chheav Bunrith, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training’s National Social Security Fund, said that the organisation was “finding a solution for the workers to help with their medical fees and give them compensation”.

Piling onto dangerous trucks to get to work was often the “only option” for factory staff, according to Solidarity Center Cambodia country director William Conklin.

Conklin said that brands and factories should not “distance themselves from responsibility” and they needed to consider how their employees travelled to work, adding that an increase in heavy traffic in recent years had led to a spike in accidents, which were sometimes fatal.

A systematic approach – involving brands, manufacturers, government agencies and Traffic Law enforcement – was sorely needed to combat road accidents, he said.

“If there’s no enforcement and there’s no accountability, you can’t really expect the situation to change,” he said.

Can Sports Shoes and Jiun Ye Garment, which employ the majority of the injured workers, could not be reached for comment yesterday

The Apsara Authority announced that villagers in Siem Reap province’s Puok district unearthed a potentially ancient statue of a standing female figure while digging on Monday, and had turned it in to the authority for safekeeping.

According to a statement from Apsara – the government agency tasked with overseeing the Kingdom’s Angkor Archaeological Park – Chhean Rotha, acting president of the department of conservation outside the park, received the statue along with colleagues from a local named Vat Wan.

The artefact is being held at Siem Reap’s Preah Norodom Sihanouk-Angkor Museum. The statue measures less than 40 centimetres tall and was discovered by villagers who had hired an excavator to deepen a local pond, according to a statement from the National Police.

Several hundred protesters representing some 4,000 families from Tbong Khmum’s Memot and Dambe districts arrived in the capital yesterday to petition against powerful private interests they say are encroaching on their land.

The demonstrators submitted petitions to the National Assembly, the Ministry of Land Management, the Prime Minister’s Cabinet and the Anti-Corruption Unit. The disputes involve several different companies and local officials.

Khouth Srey Oun, who represents 524 Memot district families in a stand-off with the Memot Rubber Plantation Company, said inaction on the local government’s part had forced him to come to Phnom Penh.

“We have filed the petition to the provincial authority but they said that they are not capable of solving the problem, so we do not know who we can turn to,” said Srey Oun. The families he represents have lived on their 29 hectares since 1979, he added.

Phon Chheun, a villager from Dambe district, said that local authorities sold citizens’ land from under them to Chinese firm Harmony, which plans to clear the forests and farmland to exploit the natural resources.

“They sold hundreds of hectares of our land to the company, and that caused us to owe the banks a lot of money,” he said. “Please, Samdechs, help us.”

Yet another demonstrator said that the people he stood for were in a dispute with KVSB International, an Australian scrap exporter. Multiple Cambodian traders had inked the petition he brought.

None of the firms mentioned in the disputes could be reached for comment yesterday.

Ministry of Land Management spokesman Seng Lot told reporters yesterday that Minister Chea Sophara would convene a meeting to go over the disputes.

“The minister will lead a working group to examine this work . . . to find appropriate solutions for all,” he said.

Last season’s Hun Sen Cup and Metfone C-League runners-up NagaWorld FC will square off against Tacloban-based Global FC from the Philippines in the preliminary round of the 2016 RHB Singapore Cup, the draw for which was held on Sunday in the city-state.

This will be NagaWorld’s second appearance as invitees after their 2014 debut in Singapore’s most popular football tournament after the S-league.

Along with Naga and Global, Ceres-La Salle from the Philippines is the third club on the invitation list. Ceres-La Salle have drawn Garena Young Lions. The preliminary round is slated for May 22 to 29, with the quarterfinals scheduled for September.

The winner of the Naga-Global clash will book a quarterfinal meeting with local giants Tampines Rovers, who finished the 2015 as the runners-up in the S-League.

Tampines signed former Arsenal and Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant in January.“We are honoured to represent Cambodia in this prestigious tournament.

We are in the midst of both Hun Sen Cup and league campaigns and the team will work hard keeping this excellent opportunity in mind and come up with a performance that will do the country proud,” Naga coach Meas Channa told the Post yesterday.

One of Cambodia’s best-known business, leisure, entertainment and hotel complexes, NagaWorld has been supporting the club since its formation in 2001.

Naga’s trophy successes include two Metfone C-League titles in 2007 and 2009, and the 2013 Hun Sen Cup.This will be the 19th edition of the Singapore Cup, the last 12 of which have been sponsored by the RHB Bank.

Defending champions Albirex Ni-igata, one of the four seeded S-League teams, will have a quarterfinal date with the winners of the Geylang International-Warriors encounter.

Last year’s runners-up Home United will take on Hougang United in one of the most interesting match-ups in the preliminary round.

Cambodian taekwondo star Sorn Seavmey was presented with 80 million riel ($20,000) from a government sub-decree for booking her historic place at this year’s Olympics in Rio at an event held at Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport on Tuesday evening.

She received another 13 million riel for taking home a silver medal from the 2016 Asian Taekwondo Championship in the Philippines.

Her South Korean trainer Choi Young Seok received the same amount as Seavmey, while her national teammate Chhoeung Puthearim got 11 million riel for her bronze medal exploits at the Asian Championship.

After the presentation ceremony, Seavmey said: “I am very happy for all encouragement I have received and I will continue to try my best for myself, my family and my country.

“I want to thank the government and the Federation, as well as the generous donors for supporting me.”

During the award ceremony, Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Hang Chuon Naron said they planned to raise money from the private sectors to support taekwondo at the upcoming Olympics.

“We will introduce a fund to support taekwondo at the Rio Games for donors, and the ministry and the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia will create a public account,” he said.

The minister also said that preparations and training for the world’s biggest sporting event would fall under the auspices of the Taekwondo Federation and the NOCC, who regularly coordinate training places abroad.

The minister said that the raising of funds for the Taekwondo Federation would be overseen by the head of the Education Ministry’s Sport department, Uk Sithycheat, Seavmey’s coach Choi Young Seok and general-secretary of the NOCC Vath Chamroeun.

“For the upcoming Olympics, we are planning to send Seavmey to South Korea for two months’ training before she flies to Brazil because she has to strengthen her physical condition,” Chamroeun said.

Container traffic at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (SAP), which operates the country’s only deep-sea port, increased by almost 10 per cent during the first quarter of the year, compared to a year earlier, while tonnage rose by 11.5 per cent, a company official said yesterday.

“The significant growth is related to our strong economy, which is driving an increase in import and export activity,” said SAP director-general Lou Kim Chhun.

“When the economy is growing our port activities grow accordingly.”

He said the port received approximately 95,000 20-foot equivalent unit (TEUs) containers during the first quarter of 2016, up from about 86,000 during the same period a year earlier. Total volume topped 1.1 million tonnes, from 940,000 tonnes during the first quarter in 2015.

Total imports during the first quarter of the year were up 12.8 per cent, while exports rose 7.8 per cent, according to Chhun.

He also attributed the double-digit growth to the port’s ability to handle bigger cargo ships, which has increased throughput while raising the port’s visibility on the international radar.

“When we can receive bigger ships that can carry more containers, the price becomes cheaper, so our port is seen as very competitive and attractive,” he said.

He predicted that the growth would continue into the next quarter, which would boost the port operator’s appeal to investors as it prepares to list on the Cambodian stock exchange.

“We are trying hard to work on our plan to list our company in a stock exchange this year,” Chhun added.

Cambodia's first Husqvarna Motorcycles showroom and dealership has opened in the capital’s upscale Boeung Keng Kang 1 neighbourhood, giving off-road sport aficionados more toys to play with.

The Swedish brand name, better associated with chainsaws and outdoor power tools, has a storied history as a motorcycle manufacturer.

However, the Swedish conglomerate offloaded its motorcycle arm to Italy’s Castiglione Giovanni and Varese (Cagiva) in 1987. The unit was later bought out by BMW before its 2013 acquisition by Austrian motorcycle manufacturer Pierer Industrie AG.

Husqvarna’s line of motocross, enduro and supermoto bikes are currently produced in Mattighofen, Austria, in the same plant that manufactures KTM motorcycles.

Ming Wuoy Metropolitan International Brand Co Ltd (MW Group), which has held exclusive distribution rights for the expensive yet widely popular KTM Motorcycles since 2012, said it aims to extend its reach by offering the Husqvarna line in response to growing local demand for high-speed adventure sports.

“Our company noticed that more and more Cambodians and foreigners are interested in using motocross and enduro [off-road motorcycles,] and we saw a big increase in racers,” said Than Dara, MW Group’s marketing manager. “So that’s why our company brought Husqvarna to Cambodia.”

He said demand by individual Cambodians and foreigners was high, while some travel agencies are looking to use the high-performance motorbikes for adventure tours.

“A few [travel agencies] have been interested in our bikes, but they are still thinking about it because our bike is more expensive than other brands,” Dara said. “The cost of the tour depends on which brand they use as well.”

Dara expressed confidence that the $7,000 to $11,000 price tag on Husqvarna motorcycles would not deter off-road motorbike enthusiasts committed to a quality brand-name, adding that within its first two days of opening the dealership sold two units.

“If you think of the other brands, they’ve introduced mixed categories of bikes, but Husqvarna focuses solely on dirt bikes and we have more experience with dirt bikes and developing the brand to the highest level,” he said.

Peter Brongers, president of the Cambodia Automotive Industry Federation, said demand for off-road bikes was growing quickly, creating more opportunities for various brands to enter the market.

“[The market] is growing and it is growing fast due to more disposable income for a wider group of people,” he said.

MW Group said it plans to hold dirt bike racing competitions throughout the year.

Passenger rail services between the capital and the coast will resume on April 30, though neither the schedule nor ticket prices have been finalised, Tith Sam Oeun, commercial manager of Royal Railway, said yesterday.

The resumption of passenger services on the 256-kilometre line from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville follows the successful operation of a nine-day trial run from April 9 to 17 – the first time in 14 years for passengers to travel on the rehabilitated line.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Hun Sen is scheduled to travel from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville by train on April 30, according a Facebook post by Information Minister Khieu Kanharith. No further details were provided.

A fair and transparent taxation system will play a vital role in Cambodia’s economic growth as the country weans itself off donor dependence and moves toward an economy driven by trade and investment. The Post’s Kali Kotoski sat down with Clint O’Connell, head of Cambodia Tax Practice for foreign investment advisory and tax firm DFDL Cambodia, to discuss recent tax reforms and their impact on business and investment.

The government recently scrapped the so-called estimated tax regime that applied mainly to SMEs. What was the problem with this scheme, and how do you expect its elimination to improve tax collection?

There is little argument that previous estimated tax regime in Cambodia was poorly enforced and implemented. The estimated tax regime allowed businesses to negotiate their annual taxes upfront, which often amounted to a fraction of what similar businesses would be paying under the real regime of taxation. By scrapping this mechanism it is hoped that there will be more consistency and transparency as to how tax is assessed and collected.

The estimated tax regime was supposed to help bring small companies into the formal tax fold. Was it a misguided venture?

Ironically, even under the old registration requirements that governed tax regimes in Cambodia it was very clearly stated that all registered companies, regardless of turnover, were required to register in the real regime of taxation.

By law, only sole proprietorships that did not import or export and that had annual revenue of less than $125,000 from the sale of goods, or less than $62,500 from the provision of services, were able to fall under the estimated tax regime.

The reality, unfortunately, was that businesses whose revenue vastly exceeded these thresholds were still able to manipulate the system and remain within the estimated tax regime and pay ridiculously low amounts of taxes.

The estimated regime stifled tax collection and compliance in Cambodia as there was no incentive to enter into the real regime. Not many businesses would want to voluntarily pass on a 10-per cent VAT cost to their clients and have to deal with a number of indirect and direct taxes, tax compliance costs and difficult tax audits, if their competitor down the road avoided all of those issues by staying, even if illegally, under the estimated tax regime.

How does Prakas 496 on tax registration, issued earlier this month by the General Department of Taxation (GDT), help foreign-owned businesses and streamline registration?

Prakas 496 is in reality just a refined model of Prakas 1139, which was introduced by the GDT in late 2014 for the purpose of “improving the efficiency and transparency of the tax registration process, improving services to taxpayers, and better manage the data collected by the GDT to improve its ability to notify taxpayers and collect tax debt more efficiently”.

It is fair to say that there were some teething problems with respect to the tax registration experience and as a result Prakas 496 was required to deal with feedback from the private sector and to also address the changes to the tax regimes in Cambodia. For example, Prakas 496 has now removed the need for overseas based owners/chairpersons to have to physically present themselves to the GDT to have their photo taken and fingerprints scanned. It also tightened up the requirements regarding the registered address of taxpayers and provided clear guidelines on documentary requirements and processing timeframes.

What does the speedier timeframe for registration and tax dispute procedures show about the GDT’s efforts?

I think the GDT should be applauded for the progress they have made in recent times, particularly with respect to tax registration and other areas such as the tax dispute process. Looking back at how the GDT operated when I first arrived in Cambodia almost 10 years ago and now, it is incredible to see the transformation that has occurred. That is not to say that the job is done – I am sure that the GDT is well aware that there is a large amount of tax reform that still has to occur in Cambodia.

Overall, what is the current investment climate and how will a revamped tax regime help foreign investment?

I would say that the current investment climate in Cambodia is still very favourable and competitive when compared to other ASEAN members. Cambodia has an open and liberal foreign investment regime, which is currently being reviewed to ensure that it continues to compete with its neighbours. A revamped tax system will most definitely encourage FDI as investors want to operate in an environment where the tax regulations are applied with consistency and transparency, and fairly.

What should the government do to promote SME growth and transparency?

More has to be done to encourage locally-owned SMEs to grow and develop in Cambodia. Most countries provide tax incentives to encourage SMEs and I believe there is a real need for this to be further investigated in Cambodia. In particular, more government and community services need to be made available to local SMEs to teach them about running a business and complying with tax regulations. Educating SMEs on their tax obligations should be a key priority as many cannot afford professional assistance.

This article has been edited for length and clarity.