Sam Rainsy, the former president of the country’s main opposition party, has criticized Prime Minister Hun Sen for alleged corruption which he said would drive Hun Sen to face the same fate as leaders in other countries in the Asia Pacific region, such as former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Rainsy’s comments came when Hun Sen was attending a summit with Asean leaders and international financial institutions in Indonesia.
Rainsy wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday that “Hun Sen is afraid to lose power because he would lose impunity at the same time.”
“He then would face prosecution because of his and his family's massive corruption like in the cases of three former South Korean presidents and the one related to former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who lost a national election in May 2018,” he added.
In July, former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was arrested on corruption charges related to the multi-billion-dollar investment in state-run company 1MDB.
The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed that about $4.5 billion dollars were stolen from the 1MDB investment fund, some of which was traced to Najib’s personal bank account.
In South Korea, the courts sentenced former President Park Geun-hye to 24 years in prison after she was found guilty of corruption and abuse of power. Her sentence was handed down in April, one year later after she was removed from power. In early October 2018, Lee Myung-bak, former president of South Korea, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Lee Myung-bak was accused of taking bribes from Samsung and other companies while he was in power. He also embezzled nearly $35 million from three companies. Lee denied the allegations and said that the sentence was an “act of political revenge.”
Sok Eysan, a spokesman for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, could not be reached for comment on Friday. However, Phay Siphan, a government spokesman, repeated false claims that Rainsy was “mentally ill”.
“This is a statement without actual basis via his mental illness,” he said.
He claimed an unpublished survey had put support for Hun Sen at more than 90 percent, without elaborating.
In July 2016, Global Witness issued a report titled “Hostile Takeover” that revealed Hun Sen’s family owns companies worth hundred millions of dollars.
