Cambodia cracks down on corruption
High-profile arrests hailed, but government faces accusations that anti-graft campaign is politically motivated.
Cambodia’s government has set out to tackle corruption in the nation with the establishment of a new anti-corruption unit.
The government says anyone caught taking bribes, regardless of economic or political standing, will be jailed. In the last year the unit has arrested the head of the government anti-drug trafficking agency and convicted a lead prosecutor for multiple cases of kidnapping and extortion.
In a nation where corruption is endemic, and where even some children pay bribes to attend school, the recent arrests have boosted the government’s track record on the issue, but members of the opposition are beginning to question why all the cases tried so far concern come from parties not aligned with the prime minister.
Al Jazeera’s Steve Chao reports from Phnom Pehn