The net widened yesterday in the hunt for Nan Sy, the disgraced former Cambodian Ambassador to Brunei, with officials announcing that Interpol had tracked him to an undisclosed hideout.

Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

Nan Sy, the former Cambodian Ambassador to Brunei, in a photo taken in 2005.

Kirth Chantharith, a spokesman for Cambodia’s national police, said Interpol had joined the search for Nan Sy following his conviction in absentia in November for embezzling more than $430,000 of state funds he had been entrusted with to build a Cambodian Embassy in Brunei in 2008.

Nan Sy was charged on June 17 with embezzling these funds, following a complaint from Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong.

“Interpol knows Nan Sy’s whereabouts and the place he is hiding. He will be arrested soon,” Kirth Chantharith said yesterday.

He could not reveal details about Nan Sy’s exact location or when Interpol planned to arrest Nan Sy; however, officials have told the Post in the past that they suspected the fugitive was hiding in Saudi Arabia.

Nan Sy, 48, a former Funcinpec lawmaker, was sentenced to four years in jail and fined 8 million riels (US$2,000) last November.

In a civil case, Phnom Penh Municipal Court last Thursday ordered Nan Sy, who was ambassador to Brunei until last May, to pay almost US$470,000 in compensation and damages to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ky Tech, a government lawyer, yesterday urged the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to begin auctioning Nan Sy’s two properties as a way of paying the ministry.

“To process and investigate this case, the ministry has spent a lot of money on auditors and on buying tickets to travel to Brunei,” he said.

“To return this lost money as well as to pay damages to the ministry, I will encourage the court to take action and sell at auction his lands as soon as possible.”

Nan Sy owned two plots of land, including one in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kork district and another in Kampong Chhnang province, Ky Tech said.

Before Nan Sy was convicted, the court ruled that the two plots of land must be protected from sale or transfer.

Chive Kheng, President of Phnom Penh Municipal Court, could not be reached for comment yesterday.