Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - KPP chief grilled over FB chat

KPP chief grilled over FB chat

Sourn Serey Ratha at a meeting at the Khmer Power Party office in Phnom Penh last year.
Sourn Serey Ratha at a meeting at the Khmer Power Party office in Phnom Penh last year. Hong Menea

KPP chief grilled over FB chat

Khmer Power Party leader Sourn Serey Ratha was questioned at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday over a former colleague’s accusations of defamation and “attempted murder” stemming from a group Facebook chat in which she was ostensibly never named.

Serey Ratha, who formed the KPP in 2015, was summonsed to answer a complaint filed on December 12 by former party worker May Sreyleak, his lawyer, Sok Sam Oeun, said after the hearing yesterday.

According to Sam Oeun, during the chat among party workers, one unnamed worker suggested there was a “fly” in the party, to which Serey Ratha agreed, saying he would remove the “fly”, while at no point naming anyone.

“Ratha said he will not allow flies to be in his party,” Sam Oeun said. “[Sreyleak] regarded the ‘fly’ as herself, and that it was an attempt to kill.”

Sam Oeun brushed aside the charges, saying that Serey Ratha had adequate evidence to show there was no attempted murder.

For his part, Serey Ratha said yesterday that he does not remember when Sreyleak worked for the party, saying it was possibly after its formation in mid-2015. He said the court also asked what kind of work Sreyleak did and why she left the party.

“I said that I did not know the reason, too. I start laughing when I think that I attempted to kill someone,” Serey Ratha said.

Sreyleak could not be reached yesterday, while court spokesman Ly Sophanna would say only that the court was following procedures by questioning all sides involved in the case.

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Rare plant fetches high prices from Thai, Chinese

    Many types of plants found in Cambodia are used as traditional herbs to treat various diseases, such as giloy or guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia) or aromatic/sand ginger (Kaempferia galangal) or rough cocklebur (Xanthium Strumartium). There is also a plant called coral, which is rarely grown

  • Ministry using ChatGPT AI to ‘ease workload’; Khmer version planned

    The Digital Government Committee is planning to make a Khmer language version of popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology ChatGPT available to the public in the near future, following extensive testing. On March 9, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications revealed that it has been using the

  • Cambodia returns 15M Covid jabs to China

    Prime Minister Hun Sen said Cambodia will return 15 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to China for donation to other countries. The vaccines in question were ordered but had not yet arrived in Cambodia. While presiding over the Ministry of Health’s annual meeting held on

  • Wat Phnom hornbills attract tourists, locals

    Thanks to the arrival of a friendly flock of great hornbills, Hour Rithy, a former aviculturist – or raiser of birds – in Kratie province turned Phnom Penh tuk tuk driver, has seen a partial return to his former profession. He has become something of a guide