CAMBODIA'S RENEGADE POLICE CHIEF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PHNOM PENH 001509 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/21/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL KCOR KJUS CB SUBJECT: CAMBODIA'S RENEGADE POLICE CHIEF Classified By: A/DCM Margaret McKean, Reason 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary. On August 2, an arrest warrant was issued for Heng Pov, the powerful former Phnom Penh Municipal Police Chief and Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Interior, who reportedly was tipped off of the impending arrest and fled the country by the time the RGC moved to arrest him. Since that time, the Cambodian media has covered the RGC's charges of corruption and murder against the former MOI official, as well as Heng Pov's counterclaims against Cambodia's National Police Chief Hok Lundy and Cambodian PM Hun Sen. Press reports have focused on Heng Pov's colorful career and speculation as to whether the charges against him have been fabricated for political reasons. Most agree that Heng Pov's abrupt fall from grace reflects a power struggle with Hok Lundy, who considered Pov a rival. Reaction to Heng Pov's statement (issued through his lawyer) in Phnom Penh has elicited little more than a shrug; sources claim that Pov's accusations reflect what most people already considered common knowledge. The PM is reportedly furious with Lundy for having failed to arrest Heng Pov before the renegade police chief revived allegations against senior RGC officials that Hun Sen would prefer remain dormant. The political opposition, on the other hand, is enjoying the renewed spotlight on the unsolved politically motivated crimes over the past decade. End Summary. Heng Pov: Good Cop, Bad Cop -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Since late July, one of Cambodia's most senior police officials has remained outside the country in Singapore while the RGC frantically has tried to have him returned to face charges of assassination, attempted murder, and corruption. Following the issuance of an arrest warrant on August 2, the government claimed that Heng Pov was wanted for the April 2003 murder of Phnom Penh judge Sok Sethamony, the attempted murder of a military police official (Lt. General Sao Sokha),illegal confinement of a female suspect, and attempted murder of Kim Daravuth, the Director of the Cambodian electricity utility. During a search of Heng Pov's residence, the police confiscated over USD 300,000 (of which a portion -- USD 30,000 was claimed to be counterfeit USD money) and a range of weapons. The police also froze a Canadia bank account reportedly in Hang Pov's name that contained roughly USD 1 million. Heng Pov's wife explained that the money confiscated from the family residence was derived from the sale of a Phnom Penh property and operating funds for her import business. (Note: The wife is a well-known businesswoman who imports food products from Singapore for hotels in Siem Reap. End Note.) She claimed to know nothing about the counterfeit money the police alleged they discovered at the residence. ¶3. (U) Since the story broke, the media have followed the RGC's attempts to have Heng Pov returned from Singapore, where the ex-police official retained the services of an Australian lawyer. In addition, there have been lengthy pieces detailing Heng Pov's career as a police official, which date back to the 1980s, through his work as chief of Cambodia's anti-drug unit in the 1990s, and more recently in conjunction with his tenure as Phnom Penh police chief. Relatives and friends of Heng Pov portray him as a good cop who bucked the system and refused to play along with the corrupt regime led by Hok Lundy and the government led by PM Hun Sen. ¶4. (C) In countering the RGC's list of alleged crimes committed by Heng Pov, the former MOI official issued his own statement in which he detailed allegations linking Hok Lundy, other senior MOI officials, as well as the PM to virtually every major unsolved political killing since the early 1990s. For Hok Lundy, Heng Pov added the crimes of passport fraud, drug trafficking and money laundering. Heng Pov's statement has been picked up by the press in Cambodia as well as the opposition press. Heng Pov also provided an interview to L'Express, a French news organ with links to the Sam Rainsy Party. (Note: A French Embassy official confirmed that Sam Rainsy's wife Tioulong Saumura has a sister who works for L'Express, which often runs anti-RGC material. End Note.) Fall From Grace -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Heng Pov's relationship with Hok Lundy has been turbulent for some time, and the former police official has had contentious relations with other senior police officials in the past. Mok Chito, the head of the penal police in Phnom Penh, has had a poor relationship with Heng Pov since the early 1990s, when Heng Pov accused Chito of killing PHNOM PENH 00001509 002 OF 003 protesters during the lead up to and after the 1993 elections. In 1998, Chito accused Heng Pov of the attempted murder of a newspaper editor. Heng Pov has also had a rocky relationship with military police commander Sao Sokha, who he accused of drug trafficking as well as killing FUNCINPEC loyalists during the 1997 coup. ¶6. (SBU) The in-fighting within the MOI between Heng Pov and other officials, however, was never enough to keep Heng Pov from continuing to advance in his career. Before he was removed as police chief of the Phnom Penh Municipality in January 2006, Heng Pov had developed a close relationship with Hun Sen and had become a senior advisor on security matters to the PM, which reportedly enraged National Police Commissioner Hok Lundy. As the senior police official for Phnom Penh, Heng Pov placed many of his friends and associates in key positions, and had developed a following more loyal to him than to Hok Lundy -- according to a former international police advisor. Although Hok Lundy succeeded in firing Heng Pov from the top police slot in Phnom Penh, the PM and DPM Sar Kheng reportedly refused Lundy's request to remove Heng Pov from the government. Heng Pov received an Undersecretary of State position in the MOI, but had little authority and virtually non-existent portfolio. He also retained his title as advisor to the PM. ¶7. (SBU) Following Heng Pov's removal in January 2006, rumors circulated that Hok Lundy was preparing to develop a series of criminal cases against the former police chief. In February, the police arrested some of Heng Pov's former subordinates in the Phnom Penh police; six were convicted of killing a female detainee held in police custody in 2005. Although the six officers confessed to the crime, they reportedly did not implicate Heng Pov in this case. The warrant for Heng Pov was issued in conjunction with the testimony of one of the six men, who testified in court to having killed a Phnom Penh judge on Heng Pov's order. (Note: Interestingly, after the officer who accused Heng Pov of issuing the order was turned over to Prey Sar prison, he escaped and has disappeared. End Note.) Heng Pov fled the country shortly afterwards, and many in Phnom Penh speculate he was tipped off in advance by friends in the MOI. The Aftermath and Hun Sen's Ire -------------- ¶8. (C) A senior MOI official told A/DCM that he and others discussed the Heng Pov case before the RGC issued the warrant, and reportedly urged DPM Sar Kheng to reconsider the wisdom of arresting Heng Pov. The same official noted that Hok Lundy had bungled the arrest and allowed Heng Pov to escape. "Who would issue an arrest warrant without knowing in advance where the person would be at the time the warrant was issued so that he could immediately be detained?" he wondered aloud. A man like Heng Pov had many friends inside the RGC, would hear of the warrant, and had the means to escape quickly, he added. Another MOI official says he just does his job and is keeping his head down for the moment. ¶9. (C) On August 18, rumors circulated from the MOI of an angry phone call from the PM to Hok Lundy over the latter's handling of the Heng Pov case. The Prime Minister was reportedly furious that Hok Lundy not only allowed Heng Pov to flee the country but that the National Police Commissioner has so far been unable to convince Singapore police authorities to detain Heng Pov and remove him to Cambodia. In the meantime, the former Cambodian police chief has released his statement with the list of crimes associated with Hok Lundy and the Cambodian PM. Lundy had reportedly promised the PM that he would return from Singapore with Heng Pov before the latter had an opportunity to go public with his accusations against the RGC. ¶10. (U) Embassy soundings on reaction to Heng Pov's statement indicate that the former police official's version of events is not news. An ADHOC official commented that the allegations are not new and corroborate what many in civil society have suspected all along concerning politically-motivated killings in Cambodia. Kem Sokha, director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), agreed that the contents of the statement did not divulge anything new, but he did not necessarily believe that everything was true. He offered that the utility of the statement was that it should be used to spur the government to reopen the investigations of the cases with an eye towards solving them to avoid continued suspicion that RGC leaders were behind the actions. Opposition leader Sam Rainsy told A/DCM that he received security threat information on occasion from Heng Pov in the past -- as Heng Pov wrote in the statement, and always heeded the police official's PHNOM PENH 00001509 003 OF 003 advice. Rainsy added that he was not in a position to assess the veracity of anything further in the statement, but also called on the RGC for a complete investigation of the allegations. Finally, Rainsy warned that Heng Pov would "almost certainly" be killed if returned to Cambodia, as the RGC could not afford the spectacle of a public trial. Comment -------------- ¶11. (C) The RGC clearly miscalculated in its handling of the Heng Pov case. If the government had been prudent, they would have not allowed Hok Lundy's personal vendetta against the former police official to override a careful weighing of the pros and cons associated with Heng Pov's arrest and trial. No matter how one examines this issue, Cambodia's government still looks bad when its top police officials are launching serious accusations and countercharges against one another that go back more than a decade. At the very least, the RGC looks bad for having such an incompetent and unprofessional police force -- and not doing anything about it over these many years. At this stage, the RGC remains focused on securing Heng Pov's return to Cambodia from Singapore. As for the allegations contained in Heng Pov's statement, the RGC managed to ignore them in the past until public attention subsided, and will likely try to do the same now -- despite calls from civil society that the unsolved killings be resolved and those responsible be brought to justice. End Comment. MUSSOMELI