Prime Minister Hun Sen’s nephew Hun To said yesterday that he has filed a complaint with the Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh against Australian newspaper The Age after it named him in connection with a drug-trafficking and money-laundering racket.

The complaint to the embassy follows a similar complaint filed by Hun To’s lawyers on Monday with the Ministry of Interior.

“This complaint is to ask the paper for clarification and to show the proof to me. If they don’t, I will seek a lawyer and file a lawsuit,” Hun To told the Post yesterday.

On Monday, the Australian daily reported that Hun To had been targeted by Australian police investigating a massive heroin drug-trafficking scheme between Cambodia and Australia in the early 2000s, funnelling the funds through a Melbourne casino.

In yesterday’s edition of the Post, Hun To, whose wife and children reside in Melbourne, vehemently denied the accusations made in The Age.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak, who met with Hun To’s lawyers the day the article was published, said he had checked the information in the story and it “wasn’t true”, and denied Hun To’s name had ever been connected with drug trafficking.

A spokesman for The Age said yesterday that the newspaper stands by the veracity of its story.

The Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh refused to comment on the issue and would not confirm or deny receipt of Hun To’s complaint, stating that they do not comment on current legal investigations.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chhay Channyda at [email protected]

With assistance from Kristin Lynch