Sin Visal speaks to reporters during the protest to demand resolution to a family property dispute. Mech Dara
The eldest son of the late and former Interior Minister Sin Song and some 100 relatives protested to demand that the government and Canadia Bank director Pung Kheav Se mediate in an ongoing 20-year-old land dispute.
The protest took place after Canadia Bank attempted to repossess Song’s house, where his eldest son Sin Visal resides.
The attempt comes after Long Sakhorn, Sin Song’s wife and Visal’s mother placed the house and some land titles as collateral for a bank loan in 2012.
One title is for a 16,999sqm plot of land in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district. Three other land titles are for 76,750sqm, 50,000sqm and 39,843sqm plots in Preah Sihanouk province.
The last one is for a 74,146sqm plot in Kien Svay district, Kandal province, where Song is buried.
The house deed and land titles were deposited at the bank for $6 million with a 13.2% interest rate per year.
Canadia Bank took legal action to demand payment with interest and penalties. Bank documents show $15 million is owed.
Visal appealed to the bank several times without result, and the bank intends to repossess the house.
He said media reports claim the bank is working on transferring the property rights of the house in which he, his wife and children live in.
Hence, he said he and the others protested and asked the government and the Canadia Bank director to mediate in the case.
“I’m trying to solve the $6 million debt. My mother and [siblings] colluded and put the house and land titles up as bank collateral. As the eldest son, I knew nothing about this. I would like to ask uncle Pung Kheav Se to accept the $6 million my mother Long Sakhorn borrowed,” said Visal.
He said the bank disagreed to the settlement and transferred the property rights of the Kien Svay plot without his consent.
Neither Long Sakhorn nor Kheav Se’s representative, Pen Ratha, could be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Kandal provincial governor Mao Phearun could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. Kandal provincial court spokesmen So Sarin and Ek Sun Reaksmey both declined to comment on the case.
