The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “Cops save suspects from beating” plus 9 more

Two suspects may owe their lives to the police who arrested them, after the officers stepped in on a mob of villagers who were beating them senseless after an alleged robbery attempt.

On Tuesday night, Lem Heng, 32 and Chan Sothy, 22, both of Phnom Penh's Russey Keo district, invited their 23-year-old victim, Tochy Rasy, and his wife, Chea Vimean, 18, out for a night of drinking, said Kan Vannak, police chief of Daun Penh district's Srah Chak commune.

The couple, who only met Heng and Sothy a few nights before, accepted the invitation.

As the victims headed home, Heng and Sothy tried to steal their motorbike in Srah Chak, Vannak said. But when nearby residents heard the victims shouting for help, a mob gathered around the would-be thieves and began pummelling them.

"The suspects were saved in time by the police," Vannak said.

Heng and Sothy were both arrested and sent to the Daun Penh district police station for questioning, Vannak said.

This is a serious error of the court. They delayed without searching the phone system, so the incriminatory evidence was completely lost and it cannot be validated.

Global beverage brand Coca-Cola, through its franchise in Cambodia, has stepped in to co-sponsor the country's Davis Cup team heading to Dubai next week for the 2013 Asia-Oceania Group III cycle.

The one-time Coca-Cola Cambodia partnership with the national squad was announced in Phnom Penh yesterday, boosting the Tennis Federation of Cambodia with an additional layer of support and encouragement in the lead up to the Dubai mission, beginning on September 11.

Entertainment and gaming industry giants NagaWorld are the main sponsors of the Davis Cup team for the second year in succession. The TFC and NagaWorld struck a highly successful partnership last year when Cambodia made a spectacular Davis Cup debut in Group IV, earning a promotional ticket to this year's Group III.

"We are impressed by TFC's impeccable track record both on and off the court and its vigorous promotion of the sport country wide," Coca-Cola Cambodia's public affairs and communication manager Lim Lina told the Post at the National Training Centre, where the Davis Cup team members were going through preparations.

"Tennis is a global sport and Coca- Cola is a global brand and they go well together. We are proudly privileged to be part of this extraordinary moment for Cambodian tennis."

Although Coca-Cola's backing for the Dubai-bound team is a one-off, the Cambodian franchise is likely to get involved in the future with some of TFC's new initiatives.

"There is a possibility that we will support the three ITF Men's Futures events the TFC will be hosting in November-December," Lim said, while expressing her willingness to consider getting involved with the Federation's much anticipated launch of its street tennis program.

TFC secretary-general Tep Rithivit told the Post: "We welcome Coca-Cola to our Davis Cup fold, though they have been with us for quite some time at various other levels. The TFC is honoured to get this endorsement from a reputed global brand like Coca-Cola.

"More than co-sponsors, we prefer Coca-Cola to be one of our partners and I hope this partnership keeps building beyond this Davis Cup mission," he added.

For the second time in as many weeks, an NGO has accused tycoon Try Pheap of facilitating illegal logging in a protected forest during the election campaign and post-election period, and with the protection of authorities.

In a report set to be released today by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, the group claims to have evidence of rampant illegal logging in Preah Vihear province at the behest of the powerful oknha.

"The trees in those areas are not logged by tycoon Try Pheap, they are logged by locals and concerned authorities. But the person who is responsible is Try Pheap, because all the trees cut out of the forest are protected by the authorities … and they are bought by Try Pheap," said senior researcher Chim Savuth, who wrote the report.

Savuth said he had trailed the company for months and seen illegal logging take place on a daily basis since the start of July.

At least a hundred cubic metres of timber illegally felled in protected areas of Boeung Per Wildlife sanctuary are delivered to Try Pheap's legal warehouses daily, said Savuth, after which his trucks deliver them elsewhere.

Nearly all of the formerly protected sanctuary was reclassified and divvied up for ELCs several years ago, leaving just small areas protected. Those remaining areas, however, are increasingly threatened, said Savuth.

"If the government does not take immediate action, all forest north of Prey Lang will see the entire supply of th'nong [luxury wood] disappear within two months," Savuth said.

Regularly, the movement is done with the assistance of Forestry Administration officers, Savuth maintained, who brought wood to their office, where it was picked up by Try Pheap's trucks. "Preventing deforestation is not a difficult thing for government to deal with if the government is willing to do so conscientiously, because the forestry laws are enough for preventing those crimes.

After receiving the information, the government [should] ask for investigation first, and if the government does not know the area, I will show them," he said.

Spokesmen for Try Pheap could not be reached for comment yesterday, but a man who answered the tycoon's phone and declined to give his name denied that any illegal actions had taken place.

"If there is an allegation [of wrongdoing], the police can work on it legally. But our company will not be responsible for every crime [done at the lower level], because the manager in that area is responsible. And in Preah Vihear, Ouk Kim San is the manager," he said.

Kim San, a former Forestry Administration official who was busted in 2009 trying to smuggle two truckloads of illegal luxury timber into Vietnam, could not be reached for comment.

Preah Vihear provincial forestry administration director Pol Kham Nare could not be reached for comment. His deputy director, Lem Moa, declined to address the allegations, saying he was in a meeting when told about the subject and later saying he was not qualified to answer the question.

Last week, a pair of local NGOs released a similar report, saying that at least a dozen companies, including those owned by Try Pheap and other prominent developers, had undertaken rampant illegal logging during the past two months.

A village chief from Kampong Cham province drowned on Tuesday and a second man remains missing after strong winds capsized and sank a motor boat travelling along a tributary of the Mekong River.

Mach Chenda, deputy police chief of Koh Sotin district, identified the body recovered yesterday afternoon as Nay Korn, 68, a village chief.

Chhorn Net, 52, is still missing but believed to also have drowned, while six survived the accident after a group of fishermen saved them, according to Chenda.

"The victims sank with the boat after the strong winds hit. The victims' families tried to find the body for hours, but still have found nothing," he said.

All eight occupants of the boat were travelling home after attending a funeral across the river at 3pm and were about 500 metres from the shore before the boat began sinking.

The six survivors were saved by a fisherman, Chenda said, adding that seasonal rains recently increased the tributary's volume.

As Vietnam takes steps towards legalising gambling for its own citizens, analysts warn of a threat to the bottom line at Cambodia's premiere casino, NagaWorld, whose patronage depends largely on gamblers from neighbouring countries.

Local Vietnamese news agency Thanh Nien reported on Tuesday that the Vietnamese Communist Party's Politburo had decided to allow Vietnamese "meeting certain criteria" to gamble in a casino to be built in the northern province of Quang Ninh.

The move suggests the government is leaning towards relaxing some, if not all, of its ban on Vietnamese nationals gambling in the country.

Analysts were quick to point out that a quality alternative in Vietnam may draw back those crossing the border to venture over to NagaWorld.

"From the long-term point of view, it is definitely negative for Cambodia and NagaWorld because 35 per cent of visitors actually come from Vietnam," said Katherine Sun, an analyst at Morgan Stanley.

In its latest report on parent company NagaCorp, Morgan Stanley says that the newly opened casino Ho Tram, just hours from Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, could potentially eat into NagaWorld's market share.

The impact, the analysis says, would be limited due to the existing ban on Vietnamese gambling that urges players over the border in the first place. But the ban seems to be slowly easing up.

At NagaWorld, mass market (non-VIP) gamblers accounted for 75 per cent of its $111.5 million gross profit for the first half of 2013, according to the parent company's website. More than a third of mass market gamblers are Vietnamese, analysts said.

"If Vietnam completely makes it free for their own people to gamble, it will definitely have a negative impact on performance," said CIMB gaming analyst Michael Ting from Hong Kong.

Ting said the severity of the impact will depend on the type of customer being targeted. NagaWorld has a strong brand that "higher-end customers" are willing to travel for, Ting said. While overshadowed by NagaWorld, with its 130 tables and some 1,500 gaming machines, the majority of Cambodia's casinos are located along the Thai and Vietnamese borders, another potential soft spot if changes are made in Vietnam.

Thanh Nien reported last week that police in the Vietnamese province of Long An said that 1,300 Vietnamese were crossing the border to gamble every day.

In the Cambodian border town of Bavet in Svay Rieng province, where 11 casinos are in operation, Tok Kimsay, an adviser to the Titan King Casino, said there might be a slight downturn, but the gamblers from China, South Korea, Laos and Thailand would plug any gap.

"I am not worried about that because we are open to all customers except our locals and we have a lot of markets besides Vietnam," he said, declining to comment on the revenue share Vietnamese clients brought in to his casino.

NagaCorp representatives did not return several requests for comment.

Despite the fact that beverage consumption in Cambodia is on the rise, government statistics show that imports of alcohol and non-alcoholic products in the first half of 2013 have declined by 51 per cent year-on-year.

The seemingly conflicting figures left some scratching their heads. Meng Saktheara, director general of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, said yesterday that the numbers weren't realistic amid an environment of increased demand and limited domestic beverage production, which increased only slightly in the past year.

"The 51 per cent rate of decline is too much, and I do not think local production can be able to reduce the amount of import in such a big rate," Theara said. "Even if we have seen increases in some brewery factories to serve local consumption, I think our production capacity is still [limited] to balance demand."

According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia imported about 720,000 litres of alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks in the first half of this year, down from nearly 1.5 million litres in the same period of 2012.

Kong Putheara, director of the statistics department at the Ministry of Commerce, relayed comments about the puzzling statistics to an official at Camcontrol, an institute that records import and export information. But when contacted by phone yesterday, the representative said he was not authorised to speak to the media.

In recent months, critics have pointed out that the problem of reliable data is becoming more urgent, as the creation of the ASEAN economic community in 2015 will use government data to create lasting policies.

This isn't the first time that official data has been questioned by officials in recent months. In May, Ministry of Commerce data showed that Cambodia exported nearly 50 tonnes of fish products in the first quarter of the year – a sizeable drop from the 620 tonnes over the same period in 2012.

Nao Thouk, director-general of the Fisheries Administration at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said at the time that he was hesitant to believe the figures.

With fish consumption rising, Thouk noted, exports may have declined to meet demand, but the dip doesn't go well with Cambodia's plans to boost fishery production to 500,000 tonnes annually by 2019.

Inflation in Cambodia rose to 2.9 per cent over the first half of this year, up from 1.8 per cent over the same period in 2012, a National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) report said. The rate, the central bank added, is manageable due to sound macroeconomic performance aided by the stabilisation of the exchange rate against the dollar.

NBC governor Chea Chanto said during the first semester meeting last week that the inflationary rate was controllable thanks to the increase of foreign reserves, reaching $4 billion by the end of June, a 13.4 per cent year-on-year increase.The riel slightly appreciated by 0.7 per cent.

"Inflation below three per cent is manageable," he said.

"The stabilisation of the price and the riel help to enhance building trust by the public in our economy."

The Ministry of Economy and Finance in June projected economic growth of 7.6 per cent this year, while the annual inflationary rate is estimated at four per cent, down from three per cent last year.

A squad of six Cambodian bodybuilders set off by bus to Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday morning to compete at the 47th Asian Bodybuilder and Physique Sports Championships, which started the same day and runs until Monday at the Phu Tho stadium.

The Kingdom's musclemen had generally struggled to match the standard of international competitors in the past, but a concerted effort by the Cambodian Body Building and Fitness Federation and its students has helped yield some hopes for medals in the event attended by representatives from 32 nations.

According to CBBFF president Rasmey Sokmongkul, who is privately funding the trip and will accompany the team abroad along with two more coaches, Cambodia's Sambo Nan recently came fourth at a competition in China while his brother Sambo Nuon grabbed seventh.

The Thai-based siblings are not in the delegation bound for Vietnam, but Sokmongkul says he is confident of success from the other Cambodia team members.

"We believe Sok Sopheak will get a medal and Tek Bun Vi and Heng Bun Neang will finish in the top five because they've got lots of experience competing abroad. However, it is hard to predict the results for the other three men as it is the first time they have competed internationally," the president said.

The competition in Ho Chi Minh City involves both height and weight classes. Sok Sopheak will contest the 1.5-metre category, while Nuot Sophal will compete at 1.75m. Tek Bun Vi is vying for glory in the over-75kg division, Seng Thear in the 55kg section, Som Somnang at 60kg and Heng Bun Neang at 70kg.

Before departing for Vietnam, Sok Sopheak told the Post: "I've joined international competitive events 10 times already. With [this experience], I've learned lots about my weaknesses and prepared pretty well for these Games. As a result, I'm confident enough to bring back a medal."

Returning from a two-year hiatus, the National Bokator Championships began its first of four days of competition on Tuesday at Dambol Touk indoor hall of the National Sports Complex.

The field has been significantly streamlined from its 2010 edition, which welcomed 222 participants, to 99 from 10 clubs nationwide.

A morning session booked out with form moves performances saw Hem Sochetra of Puthisastra Club reign supreme in the men's division with a score of 6.76.

Labokator White Lion club-mates Ek Rithykun and Chhol Sothona took silver and bronze with 6.66 and 6.58 respectively.

Meanwhile, Green Gecko Martial School students dominated the women's podium as Ni Cheang Eng triumphed with a 6.75 routine, Nan Bonan came second on 6.66 and Kheang Kim Khun third on 6.50.