The two senior Provincial Environment Department officials who were transferred to the ministry were named as Chhao Bunthoeun, Director of Mondulkiri Provincial Environment Department and Kong Puthira (left), Director of Environment Pursat Provincial Department. - Photo: Khmer Times
PHNOM PENH (Khmer Times/ANN): Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Manet has removed two provincial Environment Department chiefs from their positions due to allegations of involvement in land grabbing within the state’s forest lands and economic land concessions in their respective provinces.
According to a Sub-decree dated July 4, 2024, the two senior officials are Chhao Bunthoeun, Director of Mondulkiri Provincial Environment Department and Kong Puthira, Director of Pursat Provincial Environment Department.
“Chhao Bunthoeun was removed from his position as chief of the provincial Department of Environment in Mondulkiri to work at the Ministry of Environment and Kong Puthira was removed from his position as chief of the provincial Department of Environment in Pursat to work in Phnom Penh,” said the Sub-decree, which entered into effect immediately.
Khvay Atitya, spokesman at the Ministry of Environment, said Sunday that transferring the two senior environment officials is standard procedure for civil servants. However, he declined to discuss their cases in detail.
Nhim Sarim, Deputy Chief of the Personnel Office at the Ministry of Interior, confirmed yesterday that Bunthoeun and Puthira were removed from their department leadership positions to work at the Ministry of Environment because they had allegedly been involved with land grabbing of the state’s forest land and for mismanagement of their duties in the provinces where they worked.
He said that recently the armed forces of the National Committee for the Prevention and Crackdown of Natural Resource Crimes had patrolled the state’s protected areas and economic land concession areas in Pursat and Mondulkiri provinces.
He added that during the operation, the committee had found that hundreds of hectares of forest land had been cleared and occupied by land grabbers.
He said that it was the National Committee for the Prevention and Crackdown of Natural Resource Crimes who then later wrote to the government leaders asking for the removal of the two provincial environment officials from their positions. - Khmer Times
