The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “But not the final outcome” plus 8 more

The door is still open for suggestion, but not the final outcome.

Alleged ringleaders of an overseas employment scam the Ministry of Labour says bilked thousands of clients out of money were charged with fraud in Phnom Penh on Friday.

Oun Sarath, 30, and Kim Sophat, 29, the director and marketing manager, respectively, of recruiting firm You Can Win Co Ltd, allegedly charged their clients $100 for forms the company advertised would permit them to legally work in South Korea, said Than Thavorak, an attorney representing the Ministry of Labour.

But the illegitimate forms the company sold were not authorised by the ministry, and provided clients no legal permission to work abroad.

"The Ministry of Labour did not approve the forms; it is illegal," Thavorak said. "They cheated the residents who bought the forms."

Representatives of You Can Win could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Officials from the Ministry of Labour began investigating the alleged scam in June, when You Can Win began advertising its service on Facebook, Thavorak said. Police had arrested Sarath and Sophat after Heng Sour, general director of the ministry's overseas training unit, filed a complaint with Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

You Can Win is in the process of obtaining a license with the ministry to provide training for workers, but lacks any legal authority to approve Cambodians to work abroad, Thavorak said.

Lim Mony, a project manager for rights group Adhoc, was glad to hear of the arrests last week, as Adhoc had also received complaints about You Can Win, she said.

"They paid a lot of money to work in South Korea, but they were never permitted to work there," Mony said.

Since the arrests, the ministry has advised victims to file complaints in order to receive compensation for bogus permits, Thavorak said, adding that authentic ones can be obtained through the ministry, Sarath and Sophat are both in custody and awaiting trial, according to Khieu Phalla, a deputy prosecutor at Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

Softly spoken and with a self-effacing demeanour, you might not realise that Ear Uy (otherwise known as Louis) is a man very much in demand.

With invitations to attend technology conferences and exhibitions from Tokyo to the US embassy in Phnom Penh, and all the way to America's Silicon Valley – all while running Cambodia's first game development studio – Louis certainly has enough to keep him occupied. And that's just his schedule for the next two months.

Louis' visit to the States was only added to his bursting agenda two weekends ago, when he was selected as one of five winners of DEMO ASEAN 2013.

The two-day event, which took place in Ho Chi Minh, seeks to connect IT and tech entrepreneurs with investors, and to garner exposure for exciting new products within the industry.

Both start-ups and established companies are welcome at DEMO ASEAN, which features international panellists and speakers, including the country manager of IBM Vietnam and the senior vice president of DEMO.

While DEMO has been going strong for 22 years in its native US, this was the first time the event took place in an ASEAN country and it attracted some 100,000 visitors.

The co-founder of Phnom Penh-based game developers Osja Studios, Louis had just six minutes to pitch the company's games to the 600-strong audience of conference attendees. In total, there were 37 entries, and Louis was the only Cambodian on the list.

Chatting with me at Brown Coffee on a Sunday morning, the game designer is modest about his newly found recognition and seemingly unflappable. Computer games are still a largely unexplored market for Cambodian developers, he says.

"For Cambodia it [game development] is new, but for other countries it's not really new for gaming, and the event is more focused on innovative products. I was just focusing on introducing more [of] the company, what we're doing and what we'd like to expand," he says.

When we meet he is sporting a navy blue T-shirt branded with the name and logo of Osja Studio's most successful game to date, Asva The Monkey, which has gained more than 130,000 downloads across the globe. It's the same T-shirt he wore when presenting the company at DEMO ASEAN 2013, along with the traditional Cambodian krama.

As the only Cambodian taking part, does he feel a sense of responsibility as an ambassador for the country?

"Sometimes I think that because we're the only ones I try to introduce Cambodia to them. I also speak some Cambodian on the stage – just something to introduce us," he says.

Along with the four other winners he will be heading to the US in October for DEMO Fall 2013.

"Over there [in the States] there's innovative stuff, so I'm not trying to compete with everyone, I'm just trying to show what we have and what we do and what we want to do. Over there they've got everything," Louis says.

Aside from foreign travel there is yet more excitement from the Osja camp. The game developers plan to venture into the realm of social gaming, a la Candy Crush, and to release a new game within the next few months.

For now, all Louis will reveal is that the game will stick to a "Cambodian" theme. Whatever successes and opportunities may present themselves Louis is resolute in regard to his mission at Osja Studios.

"The most important thing is I get to show our games to the world, and at the same time I can connect with publishers around the world."

Microsoft Cambodia has appointed Thakral Cambodia Industries Limited as its second authorised software distributor in the country, a move intended to help the computer giant's local operation combat the rampant use of pirated software.

Thakral, one of the largest distributors of IT products in Cambodia (its partners include HP and Toshiba), will join Winsoft, the first and only Microsoft licensee since the company entered the local market in 2008.

"We aim to offer to our resellers the complete Microsoft product portfolio and value-added services at competitive pricing and extensive pre- and post-sales support," Ashish Fitkariwala, head of business operations for Thakral Cambodia, said.

Microsoft Cambodia representative Pily Wong said that having one more distributor will contribute to stemming the circulation of pirated software among retailers who then sell the products on to consumers.

He said the distributor will help "spread the message" about the importance of selling original software.

Microsoft Cambodia, which claims that 90 to 95 per cent of computer users in the country use illegal software, has refused to stay quiet in its fight against piracy.

In August, the company released a study showing that almost all of the 54 computer retailers in Phnom Penh, whose representatives were surveyed earlier this year, didn't offer to sell licensed software.

"They don't see the necessity of having it in their stock so that they can provide it to the customer," Wong said. "They know that they can have it anytime because you know our distributors are very efficient."

Wong said that Winsoft will sell the majority of Microsoft software and take larger orders. Thakral, meanwhile, will focus on selling software to smaller companies that are more likely to offer pirated software to the end user.

But will it work?

According to Ken Chanthan, chairman of the ICT Association of Cambodia, a private organisation representing the IT sector, more could be done.

He said the government should take care of enforcing intellectual property laws, even though officials at the Ministry of Commerce have consistently stated they don't have the resources.

He added that business partners should wage a campaign of education, providing "more knowledge about piracy to the Cambodian community".

Hongkong Land broke ground on Friday on a $100 million mixed-use development project in Phnom Penh's financial district.

Called Landmark, the building by the Hong Kong-based property group will be on a 10,700-square metre site on Street 106 near the capital's Freedom Park.

"One of Hongkong Land's core strengths is developing and managing high-quality office and luxury retail concepts for long-term revenue generation," executive director Robert Garmant said.

"We believe the growth in Cambodia's economy and property market will attract long-term institutional investors as well as foreign and domestic businesses."

The Hong Kong group entered the Cambodian property market this March with the launch of Central Mansions, a serviced apartment building behind Vattanac tower.

The Landmark property will have 16 levels of office space, four levels of luxury retail space and three levels of underground parking when completed in late 2016.

"We are confident that it will offer exceptional business, shopping, and dining experiences in the city," Garman added. "The premium shopping mall will also allow global brands and leading restaurateurs to gain a foothold in Cambodia"

Sorn Seap, general manager of Key Real Estate Co Ltd, was optimistic about the project's future. "I think the building will be very successful because it is in a good location in Phnom Penh," he said.

GL Finance, Cambodia's first financial leasing company, is expanding its business through the leasing of agricultural machinery from Thailand-based Siam Kubota Corporation Company Limited in an effort to tap into a growing market.

Kubota, a joint venture between Kubota Corporation (Japan) and Thailand's Siam Cement Group, signed the authorising Memorandum of Understanding last week with GLF's parent company.

"Cambodia is an agricultural-based economy and farm machineries are crucial to support its economic growth," said Mitsuji Konoshita, chairman and chief executive of GLF's parent Group Lease Public Company Limited.

"Therefore, there are still plenty of growth potentials in the future."

Kubota plans to establish its own company called Kubota Cambodia Co Ltd in Phnom Penh in 2014. Sales are forecast to reach 5 billion baht ($155 million) in 2015.

Set up last year, GL Finance focuses on leasing motorbikes and has 15 points of sale in Phnom Penh, Battambang and Rattanakiri, with plans for 26 more this year.

Saturday was Threatened Species Day. Held every year on September 7, it commemorates the death of the last thylacine at Hobart Zoo in 1936.

Better known as the Tasmanian Tiger because of the stripes along its rear back, the creature still adorns the island state's coat of arms.

Its demise is blamed on a combination of bounty hunters, disease and the spread of that most destructive group: married white folks with kids and pet dogs.

To this day, however, there are still alleged sightings of the elusive marsupial, and most of us cherish the notion that there may indeed be a few still prowling at night in Tasmania's foothills and scrubland.

What is most intriguing about the thylacine is that both sexes have a kangaroo-like pouch; the one for the male envelops its genitalia so that when it enters dense bush its bollocks are protected.

This is all very fascinating, you may say, but where is it going and when can I get back to my ginger-nut latte and smartphone?

Well, it's quite simple. Saturday's commemoration reminds us that this region has a growing number of threatened species, some of which are already on life support.

In fact, Kevin Rudd is already toast. The Australian PM was rendered extinct on Thylacine Day due to smarmy arrogance, internal feuding and political cannibalism.

Other leaders who may also expire soon include the premiers of Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam, and their opposition counterparts in Indonesia and Thailand.

They have all experienced degrading electoral blows, and not possessing protective pouches for their vital areas, now look hobbled and unlikely to recover their full potency.

Consider former Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva, whose ascent, as Foreign Affairs editor Jonathan Tepperman recently wrote, came after "the military, in connivance with royalists and the courts, overthrew the populist prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra".

Two years later, after those same Yellow Shirt royalists had stormed Government House and occupied the nation's airports, their puppet Abhisit was ushered into power.

But lacking popular support, he was soon booted out when the Pheu Thai Party, run by the now exiled Thaksin, won a handsome victory under the leadership of the former PM's sister Yingluck.

Since then, much like Rudd's Labor Party, Abhisit's Democrats have been torn by infighting and strategic squabbling, while seeking to foment more anti-government street protests.

It is not working. And despite having a reputation for reasoned policies and civilised behaviour, its members have now stooped to thuggish volatility, as shown by their recent fisticuffs in parliament.

Last week, Democrat MP Chen Thaugsuban went amok and threw chairs at the Speaker, while days earlier his colleagues totally lost the plot and brutally attacked parliamentary guards.

As the Bangkok Post reported: "Jeering, interrupting and filthy language escalated into pushing, shoving, even grappling with police."

A front page photo showed one of Abhisit's MPs trying to strangle a security officer.

As if that were not bad enough, Abhisit stumbled again when he tried to burnish his fading image by writing a book called The Simple Truth, in which he blamed the Thaksin-aligned Red Shirts for Bangkok's lethal riots in 2010.

"I saw everything that happened," he wrote in an English edition published last month. "And I can confidently say that the true murderers were the same people who had earlier unleashed terror on our city."

But of course he could not, and did not, see everything. And the ones who first started to unleash terror on the city were the Yellow Shirts, whose violent acts eventually led to his assumption of the premiership.

Reviewing the book, academic Chris Baker wrote: "It offers no new information that is attested and reliable. The self-righteousness makes it hard to imagine Abhisit acting as a force for peace and unity in Thai politics."

That is undeniable. In fact, Abhisit now appears destined for the same fate as the Tassie Tiger. But we shall mourn the latter far more.

Cambodia-based hire purchase firm Group Lease Finance is the latest business enterprise to support as co-sponsors the national tennis team, which left for Dubai yesterday to take part in the Asia-Oceania Group III Davis Cup campaign.

This second tier of backing for the Tennis Federation of Cambodia, behind main sponsors NagaWorld, follows Coca-Cola Cambodia jumping on board as partners two weeks ago.

The Cambodian Davis Cup squad left Phnom Penh yesterday morning and will play their first pool tie on Wednesday.

The official draw for the event to determine the two pools among eight contestants will be held tomorrow.

Fast growing in popularity all over the Kingdom as a major player in motor finance, GLF wholly sponsored two of the three ITF Men's Futures events staged back-to-back at the National Training Centre during November-December last year, with company president Mitsuji Konoshita, a former Japanese pro-circuit player himself, throwing his full weight behind the sponsorship.

Now the charismatic business magnate has extended that support to the national squad, strengthening further GLF's bonding with the TFC.

"We at the GLF are delighted to play whatever part we can at this stage to get behind the TFC in one of its most challenging assignments," Konoshita said at news conference on Friday.

"As a tennis player myself, I know how significant Davis Cup participation is in whichever group for a country big or small. Cambodia's astounding success at Doha last year has given us that motivation to give TFC a helpful push to lift its morale and self-belief for a much tougher task in Dubai.

"There are thousands of tennis events staged all over the world, but the Davis Cup is very special. The whole country will be behind the team and it is a great sporting moment for any country, especially for Cambodia which has overcome so many hurdles in the past two decades to reach this point," he added.

"I hope and pray for another fairytale success in Dubai similar to the one in Doha which left the rest of the tennis world sit up in awe and admire a nation with just 30 tennis courts. I wish non-playing captain Tep Rithivit … and his team members great success."

Tep Rithivit, who is also the TFC's secretary-general, told reporters: "Let me express our deepest sense of gratitude on behalf of the TFC and the Davis Cup squad to the GLF and president Mitsuji Konoshita for this grand gesture. Every partnership is crucially important for the TFC and this staunch backing will only help us firm our resolve to do well and uphold the country's pride."

Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday began hearing the drug-trafficking trial against Tan Senghak, a former adviser to Senate President Chea Sim who was busted in a drug raid last year – allegedly while hosting what police characterised as a meth party.

Senghak, 50, faces trafficking charges, while co-defendants So Ravy, 28, Chhin Chanthy, 30, Long Chheko, 27, Kong Rayvuth, 30, and Sin Chan Reaksmey, 25, were charged as accomplices after being swept up in a raid that yielded a small package of meth, a large package of cocaine and myriad pieces of drug paraphernalia.

Senghak maintained on Friday, as he has in the past, that he was simply an addict, not a trafficker, and that the drugs found in his house had been planted by police.

"I would like to admit that I was only a victim of drug use, and I had used it for many years. But I was not a drug distributor or trafficker," he said.

"The drugs found in my house belonged to an anti-drug police officer named Soeung Nol," he added. "I did not recognise them."

Senghak went on to criticise police behaviour during and after the raid, accusing them of confiscating valuables from his home and extorting money from his family.

"Police have taken $20,000 from two Chinese people staying in my house, and have extorted about $3,000 from my family in exchange for releasing my son," he said.

Co-defendants Chheko and Rayuth also maintained their innocence, and said they were beaten by police in order to extract confessions and testimony that could be used against Senghak.

However, Colonel Soeung Nol, chief of the anti-drug police office in the Ministry of Interior, denied the accusations, and said an undercover agent had infiltrated Senghak's home by posing as an addict.

"They were raided and arrested by police while they were purchasing drugs with our police agent inside their house," he said.

The trial will continue on September 16.