Kampong Chhnang provincial court on Saturday ordered a schoolteacher into pre-trial detention for allegedly providing health services and injections illegally in Kampong Tralach district.

Chhuon Siven, the Kampong Chhnang provincial court spokesperson, told The Post on Sunday that the court had ordered the detention of Pol Tith Theany, 49, from Kampong Tralach district’s Chhouk Sar commune.

The suspect who teaches at the Chea Sim Kampong Tralach High School was arrested on Friday evening.

Siven said his arrest came after provincial police followed a court order issued by the provincial prosecutor and a complaint filed by Kampong Chhnang provincial Department of Health that accused the suspect of “violating the Law on the Management of Health Practitioners” under Article 26.

The charge carries a prison sentence of between six months and two years.

The suspect had on numerous prior occasions signed written agreements pledging to stop offering health services, he added.

“He is accused of having provided health services in the area he lives while not being a professional medical practitioner, according to the complaint filed by the provincial Department of Health to the provincial court. After that, the court followed procedure,” Siven said.

Prak Vun, the director of the Kampong Chhnang provincial Department of Health, told The Post on Sunday that before the complaint was submitted to the provincial court, health department officials had issued Tith Theany numerous warnings for offering health services without having received the proper training and without permission.

He said he had finally been arrested after ignoring the warnings.

“This is very unfortunate for him, but we only followed the law despite some people saying this was politically motivated. It had nothing to do with him being a former opposition party official,” Vun said.

The Post could not reach Tith Theany’s family on Sunday for comment.

According to Radio Free Asia, Tith Theany’s wife, Hay Theary, on Saturday said her husband had not offered health services as the medical practice in question belonged to their daughter, who is licensed to do so.

Theary said she thought Tith Theany’s arrest was politically motivated because he was a former head of finance for the Supreme Court-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party in Kampong Chhnang province.

“If this was regarding him providing medical treatment or injections, the police could have arrested my husband a long time ago and not come to arrest him now while he was having a meal,” Theary said.

“My daughter opened her medical service a long time ago,” she added.