PHNOM PENH: A landowner and his 12 bodyguards went to court on August 8 following a violent resistance of arrest the previous day. Having ignored a summons from June, Okhna Hy Kimhong and his crew are now being charged with fraud, aggravated assault, incitement to commit acts against public officials and money laundering.
On the afternoon of August 7, the co-owner of the Piphup Deimeas land project, known to the public as Okhna Hy Kimhong, was arrested by the police, along with his 12 bodyguards, after violently resisting arrest on fraud and money laundering charges. Family members of defrauded investors had been gathering outside the Okhna’s house demanding to meet with him and burning tires to draw his attention. When the police showed up and tried to enter the Okhna’s house, his bodyguards drew their weapons and hit one of the officers, prompting the police to fire several rounds into the air.
Colonel San Sok Seiha of the Phnom Penh Municipal Police Department told EAC News, “This afternoon, at 2 o'clock, the Phnom Penh Municipal Police prepared a case to send a total of 13 [people], a landowner and his bodyguards, to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to follow [court] proceedings.”
Okhna is a Cambodian honorific akin to the word tycoon and is officially bestowed upon members of the elite who donate at least $500,000 to the Cambodian government and direct their money towards initiatives to help society. Okhna Hy Kimhong has been mired in controversy since June, when over 250 individuals filed complaints on behalf of thousands of families who say they were defrauded by a land investment scheme in which they were promised monthly interest payments that were never received. He and his business partner Okhna Sanghak were summoned by the Phnom Penh Municipal Police for questioning on June 11, but instead sent a representative.
On June 26, Hy Kimhong was summoned by the Kampot Police Commissioner to answer the complaints of those he had defrauded with his company. The commissioner said the investors had lost nearly $5 million in total, but the victims have never received payments nor answers from the disgraced Okhna. In mid-July, the National Police notified border patrol of his status so that he could not flee while charges were considered.
He was finally brought in when protestors threatened to enter his house with cameras yesterday, after he made a speech asking them to wait ten more days for their money. The incident turned violent when his bodyguards got into altercations with the police as they went to arrest the Okhna. In a video from the incident, several shots can be heard fired as defrauded investors push forward to demand their money back and the police square off with a line of bodyguards.
