The murder this week of a Chinese national who worked as a supervisor at a cassava plantation owned by the Pheaphimex group was likely an act of revenge by one of his colleagues, police said yesterday

Yang Ly Chheang, 34, was found dead on Monday in a pond on a construction site in Krokor district’s Kandal village, with severe head wounds.

Keo Sokunthear, deputy police chief of Pursat province, said yesterday that police determined Ly Chheang was murdered and identified a suspect.

“We pumped the pond and found a laptop belonging to the victim”, he said. “We believe from the available evidence that it was a case of revenge among their group.”

In January 2012, another Chinese supervisor at Pheaphimex in Pursat was shot to death.

Cheng Hongbo, chief of the political section of China’s embassy in Phnom Penh, said he was “very much concerned” by Ly Chheang’s death.

“We just want to protect the lives of the Chinese nationals here, provide help and assistance to relatives of the victims, [and help to] repatriate remains back to China,” he said, adding that Ly Chheang’s relatives have not contacted the embassy.