The owner of an online news site was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay back $40,000 yesterday after a court found he had taken the money in return for marketing material that he failed to produce.

Chong Haiyen, the director of news site Veal Entry, was found guilty of fraud yesterday by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court after he promised the plaintiff, Seng Heng, in October 2011 that he would create and license a brand, and produce logos and street signage for him, for a fee of $40,000, according Sung Ly, director of the Phnom Penh Municipal Central Crime Office.

Heng lodged a complaint with the police when the promotional material never came.