All the News Without Fear or Favor The Cambodia daily Volume 66 Issue 47 Thursday, December 29, 2016 2,000 riel/50 cents Child Labor, Debt Bondage Still Rife at Brick Kilns By ZSomBor Peter anD Ben Sokhean The CamboDIa DaIly Child labor remains common in some brick factories nearly a month after the government an- nounced a crackdown on the prac- tice in the wake of a damning NGO report that says the country’s con- struction boom was being built on the back of what amounted to modern-day slavery. Reporters found persistent use of child labor at four factories within an hour’s drive of Phnom Penh in a single day this week—along with unabated debt bondage. Both are il- legal under Cambodian law and, in the case of debt bondage, punish- Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily British businessman Gregg Fryett is led by prison guards into the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday able by a stiff prison sentence. before receiving a guilty verdict along with five co-defendants. “Built on Slavery,” a report re- leased by local rights group Licad- ho on December 2, exposed the Guilty Verdicts Bring Epic Fraud Case to End widespread use of both child labor and debt bon dage in the country’s By ouch Sony handed five- to eight-year prison ceived a three-year sentence and brick factories, unchecked by The CamboDIa DaIly sentences by Presiding Judge was also fined 10 million riel. authorities and trapping whole A British entrepreneur, three of Chuon Sokreasey for a string of Mr. Sokreasey convicted the men families in a combination of heavy his associates, a military general charges associated with a failed jat- in absentia and issued an arrest war- loans and risky, low-paid piece- and a lawyer were handed prison ropha plantation in Banteay Mean - rant for General Chamrong, but not work that forced them to put their sentences of between three and chey province. for Mr. Pov, a decision he said was children to work. nine years yesterday at the conclu- Hanh Chamrong, a military gen- made at the court’s discretion. From June to August, the NGO sion of a fraud trial with more than eral who negotiated land deals for He also fined IGE 100 million visited 11 sites around Phnom 100 hearings that had lasted over Mr. Fryett’s company, Internation- riel, or about $25,000, and ordered Penh that included hundreds of two years. al Green Energy (IGE), was sen- the confiscation of its heavy ma- factories with thousands of work- Gregg Fryett and his employees tenced to nine years in prison and chinery, including two excavators, ers pumping out the millions of —Cambodian-Americans Um Sam fined 10 million riel, or about $2,500, four bulldozers, seven trucks and cheap bricks feeding the capital’s Ang and Soeun Denny, and Cam- while Ty Pov, a lawyer who helped 18 tractors. Continued on page 2 bodian Ouk Keo Ratanak—were process the land documents, re- Continued on page 2 How Wham! Baffled China, Inspired Youth By Simon Denyer lasting influence on a country still account on biography.com de- The WaShIngTon PoST emerging from the trauma of the scribes the mood as a mixture of It was a culture shock to rival the Cultural Revolution. joy, confusion and paranoia. best of them. The bouffant, coif- About 15,000 people were jam- But across the country, a young fured hair, exuberant dancing and packed into the People’s Gymnasi- generation, throwing off the extravagant image of the U.K.’s um in Beijing on April 7 that year to shackles of communist austerity, leading pop band, and the Com- watch the first Western pop act to was inspired by the duo. munist Party’s dour insistence on visit the country. News media re- “I was dancing to their music in uniformity. ports at the time describe many in underground disco and rock par- Ministry Plans to Fix Potholes, When George Michael and An- the audience as unsure how to re- ties in my art school in Chong qing,” Develop Public Transport drew Ridgeley undertook a his- act—partly because the authori- said Rose Tang, who went on to be- come a student leader of the 1989 Page 5 toric tour of China in 1985, they ties were deeply ambivalent about may have baffled many of the lo- the whole affair, and police kept Tiananmen Square pro-democracy cambodiadaily.com cals, but they may also have had a telling people not to stand up. An Continued on page 9 មានដំណឹងបែែសមែួលជាភាសាខ្មែរនៅខាងក្នុង The Daily Newspaper of Record Since 1993 2 The Cambodia daily ThurSDay, DeCember 29, 2016 ANd AlSo NEWSMAKERS Scratch Brexit, We Want a Remix n carrie fiSher, who rose to fame as PrinceSS leia in the “Star Wars” reuTerS films and later endured drug addiction before going on to tell her story as The Cassette Boy artists, who a bestselling author, died on Tuesday aged 60, her family said. Fisher, a In a satire of this year’s Brexit vote, parody politicians by editing their mashup artists lampoon the U.K.’s mental health advocate who spoke about her own struggles with bipolar words to form sentences they never disorder and cocaine addiction, had suffered a heart attack on Friday as leaders in a video that re-edits their said, make then-Prime Minister words to say the referendum was she flew to Los Angeles. She made headlines last month when she dis- David Cameron appear to say he closed that she had a three-month love affair with her “Star Wars” co-star dumb and Prime Minister The resa turned the U.K. upside down. harriSon forD 40 years ago. Fisher reprised the role in two “Star Wars” May is making a mess of Brexit. “Now this is a story all about how sequels. She gained sex symbol status in 1983’s “Return of the Jedi” when The June 23 vote triggered the the U.K. got flipped, got turned up- her Leia character wore a gold bikini while enslaved by the diabolical jaB- deepest political and financial tur- side down,” Cameron, who re- Ba the hutt. She returned last year in a reboot of the “Star Wars” fran- moil in the U.K. since World War II signed the day after the referendum, chise, “The Force Awakens,” appearing as General Leia Organa, leader and the biggest-ever one-day fall in is shown as saying to the theme of the Resistance movement fighting the evil First Order. (Reuters) sterling against the dollar. song of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. convicted of unlawful exploitation “We are aware that the court there would be people that say Fraud... earlier this year for gifting a drug and ACU are demanding said ran- they were unfairly imprisoned for dealer’s seized SUV to his son. som money because we have had four years and who is going to re- continueD from Page 1 Mr. Fryett and two of his co-de- ongoing discussions with them to pay them? This is the problem,” Appearing briefly, Judge Sok - fendants smoked cigars and drank pay this ransom,” Mr. Fryett said Mr. Sam Oeun said. reasey refrained from reading out coffee in the men’s restroom at the in an email addressed to U.K. par- “This reaction could pressure the reasoning for the court’s deci- court prior to hearing the verdict, liamentarians and the U.S. and the judges, who dare not release sion, because the report had “a lot which was delivered under the E.U. embassies in Phnom Penh. defendants by acquittal.” of pages,” instead announcing the gaze of five officials from the Anti- “It is clear that all domestic spe- Mr. Sam Oeun said such out- sentences before swiftly retreating Corruption Unit (ACU), including cific remedies have been sought comes could be avoided by granti- from the bench. one man who photographed and and it is now the intention of the de- ng bail or limiting the length of pro- Mr. Fryett received an eight- videotaped the proceedings. fense to fast-track a complaint to visional detention in cases of non-vi- year sentence and a fine of 10 mil- Mr. Fryett said he would appeal the [International Criminal Court] olent crimes. Such requests were lion riel; Mr. Sam Ang received a the ruling, though he was “not sur- and [International Court of Justice] repeatedly rejected by the munici- seven-year sentence and a 10 mil- prised” by the outcome. as directed by counsel,” he said. pal court and Appeal Court. lion riel fine; while Mr. Denny and “They didn’t follow the law. They Speaking outside the court- ACU chairman Om Yentieng Mr. Ratanak both received five- didn’t bring the witnesses. They room, Mr. Sam Ang, Mr. Fryett’s said his agency would reinvesti- year sentences and fines of 5 mil- didn’t have a legal prosecution, and employee, decried the verdict and gate the case if the Appeal Court in- lion riel, or about $1,250. we know all they want is money,” said he would also appeal. structed it to do so. The four defendants were ar- he said. “It is reasonable to say that “This sentence is absolutely un- “If the investigating chamber re- rested in 2013 on charges of falsify- yes, I probably will [appeal],” he acceptable because we did not quired me to investigate this case ing documents to purchase land added. “Whaddya reckon? If you commit [the charges],” he said.