Ratanakiri province’s Taveng district police chief Sambath Kosal has been suspended from duty after his subordinate officers accused him of firing his pistol at them.
Kosal was fined and temporarily suspended after he allegedly threatened to use his weapon on fellow officers, according to a provincial deputy police chief.
Ratanakkiri provincial police chief Chao Neang told The Post on Sunday that after checking the complaint of the Taveng police officers on Saturday, the Ratanakkiri police office disciplinary committee suspended Kosal and ordered him to present himself at the Ratanakkiri police office during working hours to await new orders.
Neang said Kosal was sued on March 27 by 19 officers who were his subordinates. In the complaint, Taveng police officers requested that Kosal be removed from his position.
“The disciplinary committee is investigating this case and has postponed Kosal’s job temporarily”, Neang added.
In the complaint, the Taveng district police officers asked for intervention from the Ratanakkiri provincial police chief to find them justice.
They said that besides shooting 10 bullets to threaten lower-level officers, Kosal boastfully said nobody would dare to do anything to him because he has powerful people backing him. He got the position as Taveng district police chief because he spent $50,000 to $60,000, according to the file.
But Kosal denied the accusation saying: “This is not true. This is only a misunderstanding among us.”
However, Hos Rim the Taveng district acting police chief told The Post that if it is a misunderstanding, there would be no complaint from lower-ranking officers against him in the first place.
“If it is true that he verbally abused them and shot 10 bullets to threaten his lower-ranking officers on March 27, this act would be punished under Article 207 of the Criminal Code,” he said, adding that if the disciplinary committee finds him guilty of the matter, he will be sent to court.
According to Article 207 of the Criminal Code, Kosal could be imprisoned and fined between two million and five million riel (between $500 and $1,250).