Cambodia: 5 human rights workers detained over sex scandal cover-up

(File photo) Cambodia National Rescue Party's Vice President Kem Sokha. Pic: AP

 30th April 2016 

FIVE human rights workers have been detained in Cambodia after it was alleged that they had helped conceal a sex scandal involving a woman and an opposition politician.

Cambodian authorities arrested the workers on accusations they helped cover up the woman’s affair with the deputy leader of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.

The action is the latest in a series by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government putting legal pressure on its critics and political opponents.

Anti-Corruption Unit director Om Yentieng told reporters Friday that four ADHOC officials and a National Election Committee member who formerly worked at the organization were detained on charges related to corruption.

He did not elaborate, but the five were among suspects questioned by his office this week over allegations they had sought to convince a woman to deny having had an affair with CNRP deputy leader Kem Sokha.

She denied having an affair before later asserting she did.

According to Cambodia daily, the hairdresser at the center of the scandal admitted last week that it was her voice calling Sokha “lover” in audio recordings leaked online over the past two months, during questioning from a prosecutor.

“Yes, she admitted that the voices on the recordings really belong to her and Kem Sokha,” Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutor Sieng Sok was quoted saying, alluding to 25-year-old Khem Chandaraty.

Additional reporting by Associated Press