Two police officials and a Bangladeshi national were sentenced to between three and five years in prison on Friday over charges of producing a fake passport last year. 

Presiding Judge of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, Duch Kinsorn, identified the offenders on Friday as 58-year-old Phnom Penh Police Officer Seng Phirun, Deputy Chief of the Passport Police Office at the Ministry of Interior’s Passport Department Ky Sam Ath 43, and Sid Dik, 36, a Bangladeshi national.

He said that Sid Dik was arrested on May 14 of last year at his rented home in the Stung Meanchey commune in the capital’s Meanchey district.

The arrest was made after a complaint was filed by the victim, a 35-year old Bangladeshi national, Na Simorn.

He alleged that he had paid US$2,500 for a passport that was counterfeit.

Ky Sam Ath and Seng Phirun were arrested in June 2010 at their homes in Chaktomuk commune, Daun Penh district, following a testimony of Bangladeshi national Sid Dik that implicated them in the crime.

“Seng Phirum is the mastermind of this crime.

“Therefore, the court decided to sentence him to five years in jail for masterminding the production of the fake passport.

“Ky Sam Ath and Sid Dik are jailed with three years imprisonment each as accomplices,” said the presiding judge Duch Kinsorn.

In addition he ordered the three convicted men jointly pay Na Simorn US$2,500 for the cost of the fake passport as well as an additional 10 million riel (approximately $2,500)  in compensation.