Phnom Penh Municipal Court concluded its trial yesterday against two Cambodian police officers and a Bangladeshi national for producing a fake passport.

Presiding Judge Duch Kimsorn said that Seng Phirun, 48, an officer of the Phnom Penh military police, Ky Sam Ath, 43, deputy chief of the passport police office in the Ministry of Interior, and Sid Dik, 36, a Bangladeshi national, were charged for the production of an illegal passport for a second Bangladeshi man, Na Simorn, 35.

Duch Kimsorn said that Sid Dik was arrested on May 14 last year in the Stung Meanchey commune of Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district, after complaints were filed by Na Simorn.

Ky Sam Ath and Seng Phirun were arrested on June 17 based on the testimony of Sid Dik, Duch Kimsorn said.

Na Simorn said that he decided to stay in Cambodia in 2008, but his Bangladeshi passport was stolen, so he paid Ky Sam Ath US$2,500 through Sid Dik to make him a valid passport.

“I knew that my passport was fake when I applied for a visa to visit Thailand in early May 2010 from the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh. I then filed a complaint to the passport department at the Ministry of Interior,” he said in court yesterday.

Na Simorn asked the court for justice under Cambodian law and compensation of $5,000.

Duch Kimsorn said that a verdict in the case would be announced on May 8.