An employee at a dental products supplier was charged with fraud by the Battambang Provincial Court yesterday for allegedly faking a local commune chief’s official seal and embezzling over $15,000.

Colgate Toothpaste and Toothbrush Distributor employee Loeung Bunnath, 28, was charged with breach of trust, faking public documents and usage of fake documents after he reportedly lost the company’s money and faked Tuol Ta Ek commune chief Kea Thary’s stamp on a land transfer document, according to Battambang military police deputy commander Lach Bros.

“[Bunnath] was authorised by his company to collect money from other wholesalers and local distributors . . . but he used the $15,573 to gamble and did not return the money to the company,” Bros said.

To guarantee that he would return the money, Bunnath provided a letter from the Tuol Ta Ek commune chief transferring land to his name as collateral, Bros added.

However, Chou Foeung, who owns the business, said that Bunnath failed to return the money on the deadline, and that the land transfer document was found to be a fake.