The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday tried six Vietnamese nationals accused of offering prostitution out of their karaoke and massage parlours in the capital's Daun Penh and Chamkarmon districts.

Presiding judge Kor Vandy said that parking guards Nguyen Dinnha, 29, Heng Chhay, 27, Nguyen Yaing Dong, 47, along with shop managers Le Chantha, 31, and Yoeung Voek Khin, 48, and coffee maker Nguyen Thiyong, 39, were charged with engaging in "aggravated procurement of prostitution" out of two karaoke and massage parlours on Sothearos Boulevard and Street 63. The six were arrested in October 2013.

"They opened the shops to provide the services of massages and karaoke, but they illegally provided sex services inside their shops and allowed all their massage girls to have sex with clients in exchange for getting

commissions from them," he said.

"They have took 50 percent of the fee from their [workers'] sex services with clients from them," he added.

Colonel Lao Lin, chief of the Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Unit of the Ministry of Interior, said that in the raids on the shops, police found 21 Vietnamese women working there – five of whom were underage – and a number of used condoms in their rooms.

The owners of the shop, whom he identified as Vietnamese nationals Ros Meng and Nguven Hiv, escaped the crackdown.

One 16-year-old victim told the court she had been ordered to have sex with at least three to five clients per day.

All six maintained their innocence yesterday, saying they were unaware of the irregular services being offered inside the businesses.

A verdict in the case is due on October 17.