The Brigadier General is accused of threatening to burn excavators in Takeo province. Photo supplied
The Takeo Provincial Court has issued a summons ordering a Brigadier General from the National Police to appear for questioning on Wednesday for threatening to damage properties belonging to a private company.
The summons, issued by deputy prosecutor Tep Monin on May 19, and obtained by The Post on Sunday, said Chhan Sithy, 51, from Bati district’s Kraing Thnong commune, is accused by four machine operators of damaging the unidentified company’s excavators. Sithy is the deputy director of the National Police’s Commune Police Department.
According to the plaintiffs’ complaint, while they were operating their excavators to restore a canal in Kraing Thnong commune’s Knar village on April 22, Sithy and his accomplices stopped them and confiscated two of the excavators.
The workers said Sithy threatened to destroy the machinery if they refused to stop the excavation.
“Sithy’s accomplices attempted to burn down the machinery on his order. They made a threat saying they had brought gasoline to set the machinery ablaze,” the complaint read.
One of the accomplices, the lawsuit said, carried a sickle while the other held gasoline bottles as a threat.
“Then they threw the gasoline bottles towards the nearby bush near their machinery, causing the bush to catch fire. Out of fear for damages to the company’s properties, we moved the machinery to a secure location.”
At around 7am the next day, the lawsuit continued, the four started the machinery in an attempt to restore the canal again.
Sithy then reappeared and allegedly told them to stop their activity or he would shoot to kill the excavator operators.
Sithy could not be reached for comment on Sunday.
Ing Sam Ol, the director of the National Police’s Commune Police Department, told The Post the case would not affect the department’s image as it is an individual matter.
He said it was too early to determine if the workers’ accusations were true as the case is still in the court’s hand.
“Everybody is equal before the law. If any person does something illegal, the offender will be summoned for questioning. We don’t know who is right yet; [Sithy] will answer the court summons.
“If he did use the gun to threaten others, then it’s illegal. But I don’t think he would ever do anything like that because he does not even possess a gun. He can have a gun only while on a mission. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be allowed to carry one,” he said.
In a separate case, 10 families from Khnar village in the same commune once filed a complaint against Sithy to Bati district authority and the Takeo provincial Department of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction seeking an intervention to stop him from grabbing their land.
