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| The advertisement pamphlet which led to the Prime Minister’s ire. Supplied |
May Kunmakara and Sok Chan / Khmer Times, May 17, 2019
Two senior officers of a Malaysian owned company, Malaysia-owned GCG Asia were arrested and their office was temporarily shut down on Friday over the illegal use of the name and photos of Prime Minister Hun Sen to promote their business.
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The arrest came hours after the Premier reacted last after he got the information from Indonesian Embassy to Cambodia who informed that the company has been blacklisted in Indonesia because of the company’s illegal involvement in crypto currency trade.
According to the senior police official of the National Police Commission, the police arrested the two Malaysians, a man identified as Dato Sri Dr. Darrem Yaw and a woman reported to be his wife team at their office in Daun Penh district and that the police has brought them for further questioning.
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“Now, we cooperating with National Bank of Cambodia to check and close the business, including the detention of the two Malaysian couples for further questioning,” the senior police official said.
Prime Minister Hun Sen late Thursday called for the public to be aware of Kuala Lumpur-based GCG Asia which claimed that the company had received full support from the Cambodian government for their crypto currency business.
“Recently, GCG Asia Co., LTD has taken pictures of me and my name to be posted on the website http://gcgasiacoin.com/, which says that I am a fan and will join their ribbon cutting ceremony in Cambodia on May 20, 2019,”wrote the premier on this official face book page.
At the same time, according to the Prime Minister, the company has named the National Bank and the Bank of China in Cambodia as responsible partners in the crypto currency exchange. According to the Indonesian Embassy in Cambodia, GCG Asia is a grey company and was placed on the Black List.
“As the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, I deny the information posted on the company’s website, which is not true. [I] Request all relevant authorities and concerned authorities to monitor and investigate the offender and immediately punish them in accordance with the law,” he said.
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“Please, all Citizens and businessmen both inside and outside the country have to be very careful about buying unauthorized exchange money purportedly from the Royal Government of Cambodia,” he added.
The National Bank of Cambodia this morning also announced that GCG Asia is not in cooperation or in collaboration with the National of Bank of Cambodia, according to the announcement from NBC.
NBC said that GCG Asia is fraudulently using National Bank of Cambodia’s logo and name on their website and social network for fraudulent purpose.
“The National Bank of Cambodia hereby states that the NBC has never recognized or even associated with GCG Asia. We are taking legal actions against this fake news of GCG Asia and condemn this illegal act.”
At the same time, Bank of China (Hong Kong) Phnom Penh Branch, also issued a statement saying that it has no business cooperation or association of any kind with GCG Asia and has the bank signed the alleged or any similar agreements with any company (including GCG Asia).
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The statement read that the Lawyers have been retained by the Bank to take appropriate actions against the company and to reserve all our rights to claim against GCG Asia for all damages and losses (including reputation and financial) suffered by the bank as a result of the false claim by GCG Asia.
“We thank our customers for their trust in Bank of China, and would like to remind them not to take such marketing materials from unofficial channels at face value in order to avoid financial loss,” the statement reads.
Bank of China said that on the afternoon of 14 April 2019: “It came to our attention that a company called GCG Asia claimed in its promotional leaflet that it has reached an agreement with Bank of China Phnom Penh Branch to jointly issue a credit guarantee bill that ensures the financial security of all its members.” In addition, an alleged sample of Bank of China’s bank acceptance bill was shown on its promotional leaflet.