A bussinessman who held a contract with state utility Electicite du Cambodge to provide electricity in Kratie province saw the Appeal Court yesterday reduce his sentence in a 2014 breach of trust case to nine months from one year.

Since defendant Som Pheap, 38, has already served eight months of his sentence, he is expected to be released in just a month.

Presiding judge Pol Sam Oeurn said that “after listening to the conclusions in the trial and the reasons of the suspect, the court believes that the suspect committed the crime”.

“However, the punishment is reduced from one year to nine months,” he added.

Pheap borrowed $700,000 from victim Teng Bunthun, the deputy police chief of Ratanakkiri province, to help improve his business.

However, when he presented Bunthun with a cheque for the funds in March of 2014, it bounced.

A breach of trust complaint was filed, and Pheap was arrested in November of 2014. In his original trial, Pheap admitted to taking the loan and to signing a contract on its terms.