Religion dept

Eight employees from the department of cults and religion in Preah Sihanouk province have filed a complaint to the provincial court against three senior officials they accuse of not paying their salaries.

The complaint said that three employees have not received payments since January 2010, while another five employees have received 100,000 riel (US$25) per month, about 40,000 riel lower than their salary.

Am Sakhorn, a 48-year-old employee at the department, said yesterday her salary has been frozen for over a year.

“I didn’t even get a cent,” she said. “The director took our money to pay for his own expenses, and when we asked about it, he replied that the money was to help soldiers at Preah Vihear”.

Kong Sinath, the director of the department and one of the targets of the accusations, said each of the eight officials had been fully paid.

“I would like to deny all accusations because it’s not true,” he said. “All thumbprints of the complaints were not original.”

When asked about Am Sakhorn, Kong Sinath said that “I paid my own money to her sometimes”.