BEST PRACTICES IN ANTI-CORRUPTION IN THE KINGDOM OF
CAMBODIA
H.E. Mr. IM Oudom*

I. OVERVIEWA.

Institutional Framework
The Anti-Corruption Institution (ACI) was established by the Anti-Corruption Law,
which was promulgated on 17th April 2010. The Anti-Corruption Institution has two bodies,
the National Council Against Corruption (NCAC), which plays the role as an advisory body
giving advice, recommendations and setting out the strategies on the fight against corruption,
while the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) plays the role as an implementing body to
independently undertake its duties.
B.

Legal Framework and Anti-Corruption Strategy
The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has a strong commitment to combating
corruption. Prioritized policies and programmes on anti-corruption are clearly specified in the
Rectangular Strategy Phase I, Phase II and Phase III1 considering good governance as a coreangle and anti-corruption is one of the priorities set. The RGC has supported andendeavoured to have the Anti-Corruption Law adopted along with other relevant laws andregulations for curbing corruption in Cambodia.
On 17th April 2010, the Anti-Corruption Law (ACL) was promulgated, and the law
was based on the Code of Criminal Procedure 2007 and the Criminal Code 2009. The ACL
has the purpose to promote the effectiveness of all forms of service delivery and to strengthen
good governance and the rule of law as well as to maintain integrity and justice which are
fundamental for social development and poverty reduction. However, fighting against
corruption really needs the participation and support from all stakeholders both from theprivate and public sectors as well as international cooperation.
To be a truly independent institution, the Anti-Corruption Law was amended andpromulgated on 1st August 2011, allowing the Anti-Corruption Institution (ACI)2 to have an
independent budget that is separate from the budget of the Office of the Council of Ministers,
aiming to ensure that the institution can carry out its mandate effectively. It also provides the
President of the National Council against Corruption (NCAC) the right to structure andnominate officials from the deputy director at the department level down upon the request
made by the President of the ACU.
In 2012, the Public Procurement Law was promulgated, which establishes certain
corruption offences and gives absolute competency to the ACU to investigate and file
Assistant to the Anti-Corruption Unit (Director-General), Kingdom of Cambodia.
The Rectangular Strategy (RS) is a dynamic document that lays out the political commitment to asocioeconomic development process in the coming five years (2013-2018). RS has undergone three changes in
the last decade to keep up with the times.
2
The Anti-Corruption Institution (ACI) was established by the Anti-Corruption Law, which was promulgatedon 17th April 2010.
*1－ 110 －

corruption-related cases in court. In order to succeed in curbing corruption, the NCAC set out
a roadmap for the ACU in fulfilling its mission to bring more crucial achievements in the fiveidentified areas, namely education, prevention and obstruction, law enforcement, national andinternational cooperation, and good governance and internal control.
Based on the strategic plan of the 2nd mandate of the NCAC (2015-2020), the ACU has
set out its action plan to focus on three intertwined approaches: Education, Prevention and
Obstruction, and Law Enforcement, which have been supported and encouraged by thegovernment with the participation from the concerned authorities at all levels, the private
sector, media, academia and civil society.
II. INTERTWINED MEASURES TO COMBAT CORRUPTION
Combating corruption in Cambodia has been undertaken through education, prevention
and law enforcement with participation and support from the public and international
cooperation.3 Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN SEN, Prime Minister of the Royal
Government of Cambodia, said that “Combating corruption is to make people not to wish tocorrupt, cannot corrupt and dare not to corrupt”.

A.

Education

The ACU has spent many of its resources, budget, time and ideas to provide educationand to disseminate the anti-corruption law to civil servants, the private sector, civil society, as
well as the general public across the country in order to raise awareness about the law, about
what corruption is, and the negative impacts of corruption, aiming to make sure that thewhole society begins to accept the new mind-set and perspective so that they all will jointly
fight against corruption, which is a common enemy for all of us.
The education and dissemination tasks have been conducted through various means
such as the dissemination of the Anti-Corruption Law directly at the workplace, stipulating
the 9th of December as National Anti-Corruption Day, and setting out policies and anticorruption education programmes aiming to instil younger generations with the feeling of
disgust for corruption and to instil conscientiousness, clean mind-set, love of justice, integrity,
abiding by laws, respecting themselves and others as they are the bamboo shoots and thefuture leaders of Cambodia.

B.

Prevention and Obstruction

Prevention and obstruction of corruption have been conducted through many forms
such as (i) declaration of assets and liabilities (ii) direct observation at bidding, public
procurement, and fee bargaining at ministries and institutions as well as joining in theobservation at the recruitment examination of a new cadre of officials at public institutions
and the high school national examination (iii) signing Memorandums of Understanding(MOU) on anti-corruption cooperation between the ACU and private national andinternational companies as well as compiling and publishing a Guidebook on Anti-Corruption
Program for Business in Cambodia, which is available for the private sector to be widelyused as the supporting document and guidance and (iv) revising the standard of public
services fees.

3

Anti-Corruption Law, 17 April 2010, art. 2.

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The ACU has also focused on the support, promotion for the exchange of views andideas as well as to strengthen career development aiming to work even closer with the private
sector through the joint commitment and agreement under a form of signing theMemorandum of Understanding (MOUs) on anti-corruption cooperation between the ACU
and private national and international companies. As a result, so far the ACU has signed 86
MOUs with private national and international companies. This has been used as an example
in an effort to jointly fight against corruption and to establish the practice of clean business inCambodia.
In order to maintain the integrity, ethical behaviour and legal compliance of the leadersand officials of the ACU as a whole, two internal bodies were established, namely, theDisciplinary and Internal Control Council and the Internal Investigation Body. The
Disciplinary and Internal Control Council is mandated to ensure that each official had strictly
complied with disciplinary, integrity, transparency and having to avoid all form of conflictsof interest set in the guidelines. In the process of the preparation of the internal regulations,disciplinary and internal control, the council has set out principle guidelines on the preventionof conflicts of interest, gift receiving, hospitality, and dining out with all concerned parties. In
addition, the Internal Investigation Body is directly governed by the president of the ACU,
and its duty is to observe and investigate the performance of officials of the ACU.

C.

Law Enforcement

Regarding law enforcement, the ACU has the powers and privileges as stated in thearticles below:
 Exclusive power to investigate corruption offences (Art. 25 ACL)
 Special Privileges of the Anti-Corruption Unit (Art. 26 ACL) Privileges of the Anti-Corruption Unit related to investigation (Art. 27 ACL) Privileges of the Anti-Corruption Unit related to freezing an individual’s assets (Art. 28
ACL) Privileges of the Anti-Corruption Unit in cooperation with public authorities (Art. 29
ACL) Protection of the Complainant, Witness and Relevant Persons
III. POWERS AND PRIVILEGES OF THE ACU
A.

Investigatory Power of the ACU
The ACU has exclusive power to investigate corruption offences.4 Officials of the ACU
who are accredited as judicial police officials take charge of investigating corruption offences.
If, during the course of a corruption offence investigation, different offences are found whose
facts are related to the offence being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Unit, officials of theAnti-Corruption Unit may continue the investigation of the offences to the final stage. The
Anti-Corruption Unit cannot investigate offences other than corruption unless the Unit is4

Anti-Corruption Law, 17 April 2010, art. 22 and Public Procurement Law, 14 January 2012, art. 73.

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ordered by the court to do so.5 In the framework of these investigations, the President of theAnti-Corruption Unit or the officially assigned representative has the duty to lead, coordinate
and control the mission of those officials playing the role on behalf of the prosecutor until
reaching the point of arresting the suspect. After the arrest, the prosecutor exercises his power
as stated in the Code of Criminal Procedure.
At the end of each investigation, the Anti-Corruption Unit shall submit all facts andrelevant documents about the case to the prosecutor for further action in conformity with theprovisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
B.

Special Privileges of the Anti-Corruption Unit
The President of the Anti-Corruption Unit can ask the concerned authority to suspend
all functions of any individual who is substantially proven to be involved in a corruption
offence. If the suspect flees to a foreign country, the President of the ACU can ask thecompetent authority to seek extradition in accordance with the provisions in force.

C.

Privileges of the Anti-Corruption Unit Related to Investigation6
If there is a clear hint of a corruption offence, the ACU is empowered to:(i) Check and put under observation the bank accounts or other accounts which aredescribed to be the same bank accounts.
(ii) Check and order the provision or copying of authentic documents or individual
documents, or all banking, financial and commercial related documents.
(iii) Monitor, oversee, eavesdrop, record sound and take photos, and engage in phone
tapping.
(iv) Check documents and documents stored in an electronic system.
(v) Conduct operations aimed at collecting real evidence.
The above measures will not be considered as violations of professional secrets. Bank
secrecy is not sufficient justification for failing to provide evidence related to corruption
offences in the provisions of the Law on Anti-Corruption.
D.

Privileges of the Anti-Corruption Unit Related to Freezing an Individual’s Assets
Upon the request by the President of the Anti-Corruption Unit, the Royal Government
may order the General Prosecutor attached to the Court of Appeal or the Prosecutor attachedto the Municipal or Provincial Court of First Instance to freeze the assets of individuals who
commit corruption offences. Those above-mentioned assets include the funds received or any
form of assets belonging to the offender.7
E.

Privileges of the Anti-Corruption Unit in Cooperation with Public Authorities
The President of the Anti-Corruption Unit may order public authorities, government
officials, citizens who hold public office through election, as well as units concerned in theprivate sector, namely financial institutions, to cooperate with officials of the Anti-Corruption
Anti-Corruption Law, 17 April 2010, art. 25.
Anti-Corruption Law, 17 April 2010, art. 27.
7
Anti-Corruption Law, 17 April 2010, art. 28.
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Unit in an investigation. The President of the Anti-Corruption Unit may also ask the national
and international institutions to cooperate in forensic examinations linked to an investigation.
F.

Protection of the Complainant, Witness and Relevant Persons
Complainants, witnesses and relevant persons who provide information related tocorruption are protected by law and by the Anti-Corruption Unit. The Department of Security
is in charge of providing all kinds of protection to the above persons when necessary and inaccordance with the order made by the management of the ACU. The office of intervention
and witness protection under the Department of Security is in charge of protecting thewitnesses, complainants and any persons providing information related to corruption, and thisoffice can cooperate with the other relevant armed forces if necessary, when carrying out
their mission to protect witnesses and complainants.
IV. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIONA.

UNCAC Review
Within the international framework, the ACU is a state party to the United Nations
Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), setting the significant international standards onanti-corruption work and setting up a mechanism to review the implementation of the
UNCAC for all state parties. Under this mechanism, Cambodia having the ACU as the key
institution, prepared a self-assessment checklist which is very detailed and comprehensive
about the implementation of the UNCAC review in Cambodia, with the participation from all
stakeholders including the legislative, executive and legal and judicial bodies, the private
sector, civil society, development partners and academia. Cambodia shall be reviewed by the
UN together with two other state parties (Myanmar and Togo). According to the request of
the UNODC, the ACU nominated its representative to present and share precious experiencein preparing the UNCAC review and self-assessment checklist completion to Myanmar.
Cambodia also assigned its experts to review the implementation of the Convention inthree countries including Malta (Europe), Palau (Asia) and Saudi Arabia (Middle East).
Drafting of the Witness Protection and Whistle Blower Protection Law
The ACU is drafting the Law on Witness Protection and the Law on Whistle Blower
Protection. It is very important to consult with the existing legal framework, policy,
programme, best practices and technical assistance. In the process of drafting the laws, theACU has enthusiastically and openly cooperated with stakeholders including the Office of theHigh Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR Cambodia), Transparency International
Cambodia (TI Cambodia) and Samrith Law firm from the first stage to gather input.
In addition, the content of the draft laws will cover relocation in a foreign country,
which requires international cooperation for the successful enforcement of the laws. Thus,
international cooperation is very crucial to achieve the draft as well as implement the laws
especially for capacity building and relocation in a foreign country.
B.

Bilateral and Multilateral Cooperation
Public participation and support and international cooperation are crucial to succeed infighting against corruption. In order to perform its duty, the ACU can cooperate with national,
regional and international organizations in order to combat trans-border corruption offences.88Anti-Corruption Law, 17 April 2010, art. 2 and art.13.

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1.

Bilateral Cooperation
The ACU signed MOUs on anti-corruption with the State Inspectorate and AntiCorruption Agencies of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (15 November 2013) and the
National Anti-Corruption Commission of the Kingdom of Thailand (3 September 2014). The
MOUs focus on promoting and developing international cooperation in the prevention of andfight against corruption through the efficient and effective sharing and exchange of
information, intelligence, experience, knowledge, and best practices. In addition, the ACU
collaborated with Singapore’s CPIB, to organize two important trainings for its officials of
the ACU on the topic of financial investigation and computer forensics.
The ACU also signed an MOU on the exchange of financial information with theCambodian Financial Intelligence Unit (CAFIU) of the National Bank of Cambodia (26December 2014).
2.

Multilateral Cooperation
In order to strengthen and broaden the efforts of prevention and obstruction, andinvestigation as well as the facilitation and support of international cooperation, capacity
building and Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) in the prevention and combating of corruption,
the ACU has been a full member of institutions or international instruments concerning anticorruption as follows:(i) The ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative on 5 March 2003(ii) United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) on 12
December 2005(iii) International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA) since 2006(iv) United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) on 5 September 2007(v) South East Asia Parties Against Corruption (SEA-PAC) on 11 September 2007(vi) ASEAN Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters on 26 January 2010(vii) International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) on 14 December 2013
In 2014, the ACU also organized two major international conferences in Phnom Penhand Siem Reap in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank, the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (ADB/OECD) and the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC), with the participation of hundreds of experts and practitioners
from around the world.
3.

Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA)
Regarding MLA in the case of corruption offences, the court authority of the Kingdomof Cambodia may delegate power to the competent court authority of any foreign state andmay also obtain power from the court authority of any foreign state, in order to: Collect evidence/proof or answer/respond through court means;－ 115 －

 Provide information about court documents;
 Search, arrest and confiscate; Examine objects and the crime scene; Provide information and exhibits;
 Issue original process-verbal or authentic copies and dossier, including bank statements,
cash transactions, records of concerned institutions, records of concerned companies
and business activity records, as well as authentic and private documents;
 Identify or provide expert witnesses and others, including detainees who agree to assist
in the investigation or to participate in the legal proceedings;
 Identify or seek resources, property, equipment, and materials derived from the offence; Place under temporary hold the products and properties obtained from corruption
offences as well as equipment and materials being used or kept for committing offences; Enforce orders of confiscation, seizure or repatriation of products, properties;
equipment, material derived from an offence;
 Order confiscation of all objects as stated above; Inform about criminal charges;
 Interrogate the accused based on criminal procedure; Identify witnesses and suspects.9
In addition, reciprocity is also used in practice in MLA proceedings in case of theabsence of international treaties.
Cambodian domestic law does not clearly provide for the transmission of information
relating to criminal matters without prior request. However, the exchange of information isfrequently practiced in relations between the Financial Intelligence Unit and the police andtheir foreign counterparts. Mutual Legal Assistance will not be refused solely on the groundsof bank secrecy or on the grounds that the offence is also considered to involve fiscal matters.
In implementing Mutual Legal Assistance, the Cambodian Ministry of Justice has
communicated with five countries so far: Belgium, Peru, France, Germany and Sweden. In
practice, if the case is related to corruption, then it is under the competence of the AntiCorruption Unit only.
Between 2012 and 2014, Cambodia received 42 requests for MLA in criminal mattersand 36 requests in civil cases from countries including the US, the UK and EU member
9Anti-Corruption Law, 17 April 2010, art. 51-53－ 116 －

States. Between 2012 and 2013, Cambodia sent 27 requests in criminal cases and 34 in civil
cases.10(a) Formal Channels for MLA
The formal procedure and mechanism for MLA is clearly stated in bilateral or
multilateral treaties or agreements as well as Cambodian domestic regulations currently inforce. Up to now, Cambodia is a state party to the ASEAN Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty in
Criminal Matters (AMLAT) and the South-East Asia Parties against Corruption (SEA-PAC).
Furthermore, the Ministry of Justice of Cambodia is currently drafting the Mutual Legal
Assistance Law.
Regarding the regulations in place, on the MLA procedure in Cambodia, the written
requests and related documents from foreign states have to be submitted to the Ministry ofForeign Affairs and International Cooperation (MFA) in Khmer or in English. The
Cambodian MFA will forward the request to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) playing the roleas the central authority. The MOJ then will send the request and related documents to the
Court of Appeal to decide on further action. This similar legal process would also apply tothe case of the request for repatriation of the assets or the arrests of the suspects.
(b) Informal Channels of MLA
Informal MLA procedure is particularly applied based on SEA-PAC and the MOU
between the ACU and the State Inspectorate and Anti-Corruption Authority (SIAA) of Lao
PDR (15 November 2013) and the MOUs between the ACU and the National AntiCorruption Commission (NACC) of the Kingdom of Thailand (3 September 2014).
In practice, when MLA is needed, the anti-corruption agency of a foreign state candirectly send informal requests to the ACU. Upon receiving the request, the ACU will
undertake measures based on the actual case. Where there is a request for MLA, the ACU
provides the following assistance:
 Prior to a formal request for MLA, once receiving a request from any party the ACU
assists by providing intelligence in the investigation.
 The ACU then helps gather information and puts the suspects under surveillance.
 Once the formal request for MLA is made, the ACU will help facilitate the formal request.
Regarding informal MLA, the ACU collaborated with the Corruption Eradication
Commission of Indonesia (KPK) and the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) of
Singapore to exchange information through focal persons nominated by each agency. As aresult of collaboration between the ACU and the KPK, the suspect was arrested and sent backto Indonesia. In addition, the ACU and the CPIB have cooperated for the exchange of
information and support for the court procedure, the information gathering and evidencecollection, and obtaining interviews and recorded statements so that the CPIB could use theevidence legally in the court proceeding.

10

Draft country report on UNCAC review implementation in Cambodia, 2 December 2015, p. 176.

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(c) Extradition
The extradition conditions and procedures are stipulated in the Code of Criminal
Procedure 2009 (article 566-595), the Law on Anti-Corruption (article 50), extradition
treaties with four countries (China, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Republic of Korea
and Thailand) and the principle of reciprocity. At the present time, Cambodia is in theprocess of negotiating extradition treaties with Viet Nam, Malaysia and Indonesia. In
corruption cases, if the suspect flees to a foreign country, the President of the Anti-Corruption
Unit may request the competent authority to extradite the suspect in accordance with theprovisions in force.11
In extradition matters, Cambodia generally requires some conditions such as dual
criminality, a two-year minimum penalty, that the extradition request is not connected with apolitical offence, etc. The extradition treaties of Cambodia stipulate as mandatory grounds forrefusal of extradition the institution of criminal proceedings against a person sought on
account of sex, race, religion, nationality or political opinion, a political offence, aCambodian national, etc.12
The extradition procedure is a mixed judicial-executive procedure. A decision on
extradition is made by the Investigation Chamber of the Phnom Penh Court of Appeal. 13 If
the Investigation Chamber grants the extradition request, the Minister of Justice shall proposethat the Royal Government issues a sub-decree ordering the extradition of the wanted
person.14
Cambodia has handled 12 extradition cases since 2009 involving, inter alia, Russia,
Germany and Israel. None of these requests were related to corruption offences. All
extradition requests were granted except one where the person sought by another country also
had Cambodian (dual) citizenship.15
V. ACTUAL CORRUPTION CASE
A.

Fact Summary
On 13 July 2016, Mr. ECV, Chief of Bureau and Assistant to General Director, extorted
6,000 USD from KTS Company, which then reduced to 4,000 USD plus 100 USD (In total 4,100
USD) in order to obtain a VAT Exemption Letter for importing raw materials and chemical
substances for the production of the company. This illegal claim started on 26 February 2016.
At the same time, on 12 July 2016, Mr. ECV received an envelope from a customer with theamount of 800 USD and two other envelopes with the amount of 40 USD and 50 USD in
exchange for letters to export old water tanks without the obligation to pay tax. He wasdetained by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) in a hotel on 13 July 2016.
B.

Investigatory Techniques

 Investigatory Process and the Red-Handed Offences
 ACU had traced his daily activities
Anti-Corruption Law, 17 April 2010, art. 26.2.
Code of Criminal Procedural, 10 August 2007, arts. 569-577.
13
Code of Criminal Procedural, 10 August 2007, art. 586.
14
Code of Criminal Procedure, 10 August 2007, arts. 586-589.
15
Draft country report on UNCAC review implementation in Cambodia, 2 December 2015, p. 153.
11
12

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 ACU had searched for his residential address, office address and his vehicle information
 ACU had launched a special operation to record his voice, video and activities,
especially while receiving the money.
C.

Court Judgements

 Mr. ECV was sentenced to 2 years in prison and 2,000 USD of monetary fines for
extortion committed in Phnom Penh on 13 July 2016 based on Art.-32 of Cambodia’s
Anti-Corruption Law and Art. 592, Art.-107, and Art.-108 of Cambodia’s Criminal
Code.
 Mr. ECV was ordered to pay back the amount of 72, 000 USD to the state All properties were seized as state property under Art. 62 and Art. 63 of the Criminal
Code as follows:- First envelop with the amount of 800 USD- Second envelop with the amount of 50 USD- Third envelop with the amount of 40 USD.
VI. CONCLUSION
Since the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Institution, the Anti-Corruption Unit hasgathered tremendous support from the public both nationally and internationally. Because of
the trust in the ACU, more and more private-sector entities have signed MOUs with the ACU
in order to participate in the fight against corruption and to conduct their businesses in a
corruption-free environment. In terms of building legal frameworks, the ACU has been in theprocess of drafting two important laws: first, the draft law on the protection of witnesses and,second, the draft law on the protection of reporting persons. In addition, the ACU has also
been in the process of drafting a code of conduct for public officials. As a result of thedissemination of the Anti-Corruption Law, public officials and ordinary citizens have a better
understanding of the impact of corruption and actively take part in the fight against thisuniversal social disease.
Even though there have been many remarkable achievements since the establishment of
the ACU, there are still many more challenges for the ACU to overcome in the coming years.
In this regard, the ACU is still looking forward to having more public support and public
participation from every stakeholder including the international support, both theoreticallyand technically, from regional and international partners.
“Together we can fight against corruption
And there is no safe haven for corrupt offenders”.

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