Cambodia demands to see tribunal corruption complaints
Updated
The Cambodian government has demanded to see complaints detailing corruption by the UN-backed Khmer Rouge trial so that it can investigate. The Khmer Rouge court has twice been hit by allegations that Cambodian staff paid money for their jobs. Corruption allegations have dogged the ECCC since last year, leading to the appointment of a new ethics monitor last month. The government said earlier all future allegations would be kept secret until reviewed by a government body.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Fulbright scholar and blogger, Elena Lesley, who has been following the Khmer Rouge Tribunal
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LESLEY: Well unfortunately I can't tell you much about the specifics of the allegations because none of that information has been made public. But apparently several staff members of the ECCC came forward after a June 25th memo was circulated by the Director of Administration urging people to come forward if they had any evidence of corruption at the courts. And then those allegations were forwarded to a UN body in New York which has been conducting a review. Last week a summary of the review, as far as I can tell, was handed over to Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, but this other statement has come forward Friday because apparently no one from the Cambodian government has seen the complaints themselves, and the review summary named names and apparently they felt it was unfair to implicate people if they were unaware of the charges against them.
LAM: Indeed you mentioned the Information Minister Sok An, in a statement from the Council of Ministers criticised the UN review. Do we know what the government is critical about?
LESLEY: It seems to be that there's a general sort of struggle going on over jurisdiction, who has jurisdiction over these allegations. The Cambodian government has said that they should be the ones to handle them because they involve Cambodian staff, that they should be the ones to conduct any sort of investigation and that the UN doesn't really have a right to be involved. At the same time it seems that Sok An is being critical because he feels like whatever was handed over to his office from the UN was incomplete, and wants to see the complaints themselves, which apparently no Cambodian authority has seen so far.
LAM: Well Elena we've had reports that some Cambodian staff paid money to get jobs at the ECCC. Do we know what form of corruption the ECCC members were supposed to have indulged in?
LESLEY: It seems to be a similar complaint that was made last time, 2007, when corruption allegations first surfaced, although those were never put in writing, apparently these that came forward this summer were the first to be put in writing. Basically that staffers were paying a portion of their salary for their jobs. So really there are kickback allegations as far as I've heard. Whether there's anything beyond that I don't know.
LAM: And just briefly what kind of response has the ECCC made?
LESLEY: The ECCC says it can't really release any investigation until the review is further along or a decision is made about an investigation.
