The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday sentenced Um Sary, 52, and Sann Sovann, 55, to four and six years in prison, respectively, for faking documents in order to defraud a Vietnamese investor out of $190,000 in a land deal last year.

Presiding judge Chaing Sinath also ordered the defendants to jointly repay the stolen money and more than 50 million riel ($12,500) in fines and damages.

According to Sinath, the two were given $190,000 to arrange a 70-year lease on 2,000 hectares of land for a rubber plantation in Kampong Thom province.

However, their employer filed his complaint after the pair had completed their work, and handed over the land titles, which upon inspection by local authorities, turned out to be fake.

After the sentence was announced, Sary continued to claim he was innocent.

“I cannot accept the court’s decision,” he said. “I will take this to the Court of Appeal.”