Khmer Time/Taing Vida Wednesday, 17 August 2016
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday authorized legal action to be taken against anyone found to have committed forgery by putting more than one thumbprint on a petition submitted to the king.
A number of irregularities were found by an Interior Ministry investigation into the validity of more than 170,000 thumbprints on a petition from the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) to King Norodom Sihamoni in May, asking him to intervene in the current political crisis.
The Interior Ministry report found serious irregularities with 738 thumbprints it investigated, including the repeated use of 43 prints against 1,003 different names.
One person, it alleges, used their thumbprint against 88 names. The report, sent to Mr. Hun Sen, also noted that some names did not have a corresponding thumbprint, and some prints lacked names.
Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak yesterday confirmed the prime minister had responded to the report and had authorized the ministry to continue its investigation and look at possible legal action.
“We would take legal action in accordance with the results we have found. Who would be punished? The CNRP who delivered the petition, of course, would not be free of this,” he said.
In the process of verifying the thumbprints, he said 251 CNRP activists had been questioned and claimed that 127 villages nationwide had submitted complaints against the CNRP, alleging they had been cheated.
Kang Sokhorn, the deputy National Police chief and a member of the commission investigating the petition, told Khmer Times there was still much more work to be done.
“Until now, we are still working on it. If we find any more mistakes and irregularities, we will inform the public.”
Senior CNRP member Eng Chhay Eang brushed off the reports of irregularities in the petition and said the party had collected an additional 20,000 thumbprints, calling on the king to intervene in the release of jailed political prisoners and human rights activists.
When news of the irregularities was first announced in July, CNRP spokesman Yem Ponhearith stated that 55 CNRP members would go to jail if the government’s claims were true, but stressed the government should be focusing its efforts on addressing the issues raised by the petition.
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday authorized legal action to be taken against anyone found to have committed forgery by putting more than one thumbprint on a petition submitted to the king.
A number of irregularities were found by an Interior Ministry investigation into the validity of more than 170,000 thumbprints on a petition from the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) to King Norodom Sihamoni in May, asking him to intervene in the current political crisis.
The Interior Ministry report found serious irregularities with 738 thumbprints it investigated, including the repeated use of 43 prints against 1,003 different names.
One person, it alleges, used their thumbprint against 88 names. The report, sent to Mr. Hun Sen, also noted that some names did not have a corresponding thumbprint, and some prints lacked names.
Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak yesterday confirmed the prime minister had responded to the report and had authorized the ministry to continue its investigation and look at possible legal action.
“We would take legal action in accordance with the results we have found. Who would be punished? The CNRP who delivered the petition, of course, would not be free of this,” he said.
In the process of verifying the thumbprints, he said 251 CNRP activists had been questioned and claimed that 127 villages nationwide had submitted complaints against the CNRP, alleging they had been cheated.
Kang Sokhorn, the deputy National Police chief and a member of the commission investigating the petition, told Khmer Times there was still much more work to be done.
“Until now, we are still working on it. If we find any more mistakes and irregularities, we will inform the public.”
Senior CNRP member Eng Chhay Eang brushed off the reports of irregularities in the petition and said the party had collected an additional 20,000 thumbprints, calling on the king to intervene in the release of jailed political prisoners and human rights activists.
When news of the irregularities was first announced in July, CNRP spokesman Yem Ponhearith stated that 55 CNRP members would go to jail if the government’s claims were true, but stressed the government should be focusing its efforts on addressing the issues raised by the petition.