Tue, Jun 02, 2009
AFP
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - Cambodia Tuesday rejected a US diplomat's reported statement that graft costs the country up to US$500 million every year, branding her assertion "politically motivated and unsubstantiated."
US ambassador Carol Rodley made the allegation Saturday at a Phnom Penh anti-corruption concert, remarking, "five hundred million is equivalent to the cost of constructing 20,000 six-room school buildings," said a local report.
In a letter to the US embassy on Tuesday, Cambodia's foreign ministry said it "absolutely refutes the politically motivated and unsubstantiated allegation made by the United States diplomat."
The letter added that the US$500-million corruption figure was a "biased assessment" that came from an opposition party-linked economic institute.
Rodley's use of it, the letter said, was "in contradiction of the good relations between Cambodia and the United States."
Senior minister Om Yentieng, chairman of the government's anti-corruption unit, said in a press conference Tuesday that Rodley's allegation "strongly affects the honour and reputation of the Cambodian government."
"We have never said that there is no corruption in Cambodia.... But when saying that the level of corruption in Cambodia is so serious like the allegation, we cannot accept it," Om Yentieng said.
The US embassy was not immediately available for comment, but a 2004 report by the US Agency for International Development said informants estimated annual diversions from Cambodian government coffers at US$300 - US$500 million.
Donors pledged nearly one billion dollars in development aid to Cambodia last year despite strong concerns over rampant corruption and demands by rights groups that donors get tough on the government's apparent refusal to reform.
Cambodia's cabinet also issued a statement Tuesday saying Rodley's US$500 million figure was "regrettable" as well as a "groundless" allegation that it considered a "manipulation of the truth."
AFP
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - Cambodia Tuesday rejected a US diplomat's reported statement that graft costs the country up to US$500 million every year, branding her assertion "politically motivated and unsubstantiated."
US ambassador Carol Rodley made the allegation Saturday at a Phnom Penh anti-corruption concert, remarking, "five hundred million is equivalent to the cost of constructing 20,000 six-room school buildings," said a local report.
In a letter to the US embassy on Tuesday, Cambodia's foreign ministry said it "absolutely refutes the politically motivated and unsubstantiated allegation made by the United States diplomat."
The letter added that the US$500-million corruption figure was a "biased assessment" that came from an opposition party-linked economic institute.
Rodley's use of it, the letter said, was "in contradiction of the good relations between Cambodia and the United States."
Senior minister Om Yentieng, chairman of the government's anti-corruption unit, said in a press conference Tuesday that Rodley's allegation "strongly affects the honour and reputation of the Cambodian government."
"We have never said that there is no corruption in Cambodia.... But when saying that the level of corruption in Cambodia is so serious like the allegation, we cannot accept it," Om Yentieng said.
The US embassy was not immediately available for comment, but a 2004 report by the US Agency for International Development said informants estimated annual diversions from Cambodian government coffers at US$300 - US$500 million.
Donors pledged nearly one billion dollars in development aid to Cambodia last year despite strong concerns over rampant corruption and demands by rights groups that donors get tough on the government's apparent refusal to reform.
Cambodia's cabinet also issued a statement Tuesday saying Rodley's US$500 million figure was "regrettable" as well as a "groundless" allegation that it considered a "manipulation of the truth."
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