THE Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday charged the director of a local magazine with making an illegal public offer of securities after a complaint was filed against him by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Prosecutor Hing Bunchea said Khin Udom Vithoeurith, director of the Cambodia Trading Post magazine, had been charged under Article 48 of the Kingdom’s 2007 Law on the Issuance and Trading of Non-Government Securities, with the offence carrying a potential jail term of between one and five years.

Khin Udom Vithoeurith said he had been detained by municipal military police on Sunday before appearing in court on Monday. He said that he had not sold any securities, but had only conducted a seminar on the subject last month at Phnom Penh’s Holiday Villa hotel.

“The court prosecutor repeatedly accused me this morning of selling stock market shares, but I explained that I was not selling – I was only providing training about the theory of stock markets in order to educate the Cambodian people,” Khin Udom Vithoeurith said.

Cambodia’s stock exchange has not yet opened, though it is expected to do so by the end of this year after repeated delays. Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, Telecom Cambodia and Phnom Penh Water Authority are set to be the first three companies listed on the exchange, a joint venture between the Korean Exchange company and Economy and Finance Ministry.

Officials at the ministry could not be reached for comment on Monday.