PHNOM PENH: The larger-than-life image of Prime Minister Hun Manet appeared on multiple digital billboards in the largest city in the US over the weekend, sparking online debate about who paid for the ads. The billboards showed him in his military garb and in his new role as prime minister, congratulating him with his new title “His Excellency Samdech Moha Bovor Tipadei.” The ads are credited on the billboard to the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) chapter of San Francisco, California.

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Hun Manet said that congratulatory banners posted in Times Square to welcome the PM were paid for with the love and support Of Cambodians living in the United States and Canada, not by the Royal Government.

People took to the internet to complain about the billboards’ cost to the Cambodian taxpayer, as just one day for one billboard can run anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000. According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office on September 25, the Royal Government did not spend any money on the billboards, but rather they were a celebratory gesture from his supporters living abroad.

On social media, Prime Minister Hun Manet thanked someone named David Soth, who he credited for arranging and purchasing the billboards without any interference on the government’s behalf. “This kindness if for me as well as the Royal Government of Cambodia,” he wrote.