"...opportunity to benefit from deeper reforms is now..." in Cambodia
- From: "Chim" <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 21 Mar 2006 07:04:43 -0800
"...opportunity to benefit from deeper reforms is now..."
After the Consultative Group meeting on 2-3
March 2006 between representatives of the
Cambodian Government, other
governments, and international agencies
cooperating with Cambodia, a World Bank
report says: "Government and donors agree
opportunity to benefit from deeper reforms
is now. Serious Challenges Remain." In
relation to legal and judicial reform, the
"participants urged the Government to move
ahead decisively on passing of a series of eight
laws which are fundamental to establishing a
sound framework for a more effective legal
and judicial system."
During the present week we have had some
almost incredible reports which show how big
the task ahead is, to move toward a state of law,
in which society functions in a way so that it is
reliably predictable, what will happen under
which circumstances, equally for all individuals
under the same law. - This week we read:
- "Phnom Penh Municipal Court Fails to
Subpoena Powerful People": high level officials
from Ratanakiri - a former governor, a police
commissioner, and a military commander - were
accused since 2004 of being responsible for an
estimated loss of $18 million in state revenue,
for 500 timber truckloads. After much hesitation
to press formal charges against them, procedures
finally started, but "they refused to appear for
various reasons. Those being detained are just a
few ordinary policemen known to have gained
only $1,000 from the deforestation."
- The Ministry of Economy and Finance,
surprisingly, sent a letter requesting a failed
airline to pay an outstanding debt of more
than $1 million. This letter "required ... to
settle all the debts, because they had been
sending letters asking the company to settle
its debt for three years now. There had been
no response." Normally such taxes have to be
paid regularly, every one or two months.
- A senior party official who is also an
undersecretary of state, accused by the court
since several years of extorting money,
finally agreed to go to court in response to
a seventh-time summons. A court official
explained, "a person is arrested when that
person has no clear background." But as
the accused "has a house, a high position,
and honor, so the court sees that these
things do not affect the investigation" and
there is no need to have him arrested. The
accused denies the accusation, and instead
blames his former mistress for the deceit.
Meanwhile, she has been arrested and
continues imprisoned without trial for four
years, since May 2002, way beyond the legal
limit of six months.
A state of law? "Serious Challenges
Remain" - maybe much more serious than
the participants in the Consultative Group
Meeting could ever have imagined.
.
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