Kampot provincial police sent two councillors to court on Thursday for forging public documents to claim a villager’s land in Chhouk district.

Provincial police chief Mao Chanmathurith said the unidentified officials, one of whom was a Chhouk district councillor and the other a Taken commune council member, were arrested on Tuesday for their alleged collusion in the forgery.

Chanmathurith said the land in Trapaing Phlaing commune rightfully belonged to Truon Eng, who filed a complaint against the two.

“We sent them to court after questioning, but we don’t know what decision the court has made,” he said.

Provincial court spokesman Man Boreth said the pair were being questioned by a prosecutor.

Chhouk district governor Khieu Rithy Phaon could not be reached for comment on the matter.

After questioning at the provincial police headquarters on Wednesday, police said the 47-year-old district councillor had falsified the documentation in November last year to claim the land as his own.

The district councillor allegedly persuaded the Taken commune chief to alter the documentation, removing the rightful land owner’s name and changing the name of the commune where the land is located – Trapaing Phlaing – to Taken, which his alleged accomplice represented.

After the forgery, the councillor allegedly forced the unidentified Taken commune chief to stamp the document, which was originally accredited and signed by the Trapaing Phlaing commune chief.

Police said his accomplice, the 46-year-old commune councillor, was arrested for conspiring to forge a public document.