A man who allegedly cheated his business partner out of a half-million dollars was arrested and charged with “breach of trust” yesterday following an investigation by Phnom Penh’s serious crime police in conjunction with Banteay Meanchey provincial police.

Uy Sopheap, 69, was arrested in Banteay Meanchey’s Sisophon district on a warrant originating from a complaint filed in Phnom Penh Municipal Court by Peter Adrian Scherholter, who co-founded Elephant Cement Company with Sopheap.

Two years ago Sopheap, a friend of German-Australian national Scherholter, convinced him to move to Cambodia to start the cement company, said Hun Somphorn, Banteay Meanchey’s director of the provincial serious crime unit.

According to the lawsuit Scherholter filed, Sopheap stole Scherholter’s $500,000 investment in the company, then tried to hide evidence that he was ever involved in the company from Elephant Cement’s computers, Somphorn said.