The Chinese-Malaysian director of a Phnom Penh garment factory is facing up to seven years in prison for allegedly sexually abusing a 14-year-old member of his staff last year.

Ing Kay Hwa, 40, was officially charged at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday with child prostitution and having sex with an underage girl.

Hwa runs Ing Kay Hwa Factory in Sen Sok district where the teen worked, according to Lieutenant Colonel Keo Thea, chief of the city’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Unit.

Thea told the Post that Hwa “was arrested on Tuesday based on [the] girl’s complaint that her boss lured her to have sex with him three times at guesthouses in Phnom Penh at the end of 2013”.

Thea said Hwa brought the girl to a karaoke bar in the capital and forced her to drink beer. When the girl was drunk, Hwa allegedly brought her to a guesthouse where he had sex with her, paying her $500 for the first encounter, then $100 on two subsequent occasions.

Deputy prosecutor Heang Sopheak and Hwa could not be reached for comment yesterday regarding the accusations.