Scores of people in Preah Sihanouk province’s Kompong Seila district have asked the provincial court to delay proceedings in a case filed against them by three local businesspeople in September.

The 88 people received summonses in September, but yesterday asked the court to postpone a hearing scheduled for today. Local business owners Chan Heng Kanha, So Sou Hwang and Lim Chou have alleged that 148 families have been illegally living on their land in the district for years.

But Chen Sophal, an O’Bakrotes commune representative who lives on the land, said they had been there since the early 1990s.

“I have lived in the area since it was a minefield and some people and animals were killed by mines. So why do they have land certificates? How did they [the businesspeople] get the titles in 1995 before integration?

"The land certificates are not real,” he said. “There is complicity and corruption between businesspeople and the court to threaten and seize people’s land. We request the Anti-Corruption Unit investigate.”

The three complainants could not be reached yesterday.