TWENTY judges and prosecutors will be moved as part of the annual rotation of court jurists, Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vathana said Monday, adding that the cost of re-housing judges was a concern.

While government officials and rights advocates agree the rotation system can fight corruption by preventing people from building entrenched networks, they also accept that it is expensive for the jurists to move every fourth year, since some will have to maintain households in two places without extra pay.

"It is positive that they are moving," said Thun Saray, director of local rights group Adhoc, adding that the rotation "could lead to corruption, since they may have double expenses while their salary remains the same".

Ang Vong Vathana agreed that maintaining second households was a problem of the system but said that benefits outweighed the drawbacks. "We are always trying to improve the judicial system," he told the Post.

Thun Saray said the solution could be to provide them with extra income or new houses.

The justice minister and Hanrot Raken, a member of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy, declined to reveal the names of any judges or prosecutors undergoing rotation.