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aid conference in Phnom Penh in 2002, the law had not yet appeared. Hun Sen told his
audience that he was committed to finalizing the draft before the end of June 2003. That
deadline came and went. At the next meeting, in 2004, Sok An smiled and reassured
donors the law would be resubmitted to the National Assembly for passage “as a matter
of urgency.” Again, they waited in vain. By 2006 Hun Sen said the law was “in its fi-
nal stages”; 2007 brought more unexplained delays, but still the government said it was
“committed without any hesitation.” 53 Donor representatives protested at the lack of ac-
tion, but stuck safely to the realm of “concerns.” Between 2002 and 2007, donors prom-
ised more than $3 billion in aid. This was topped up by a $951 million pledge in Decem-
ber 2008, by which time the government had announced that the anti-graft legislation was
now ready to go, but would need to await the passage of an updated Penal Code. 54
Cambodia's Anti-Corruption Law was finally passed in March 2010. It was riddled
with loopholes. Key elements of a confidential early draft were dropped, including an en-
tire chapter with provisions for the development of a “corruption-free personnel recruit-
ment system for government” and a code of ethics for civil servants. Key sections were
broad or vaguely defined. One article banned the giving of gifts or bribes in exchange for
favors, but exempted any gift given “in accordance with custom and tradition”—a caveat
that could be taken to mean just about anything. The verdict of one international corrup-
tion expert was that the law was “far too obviously open to abuse.” 55 When the National
Assembly met to vote on the law, opposition delegates walked out in protest.
The Anti-Corruption Law, of course, was another well-engineered mirage. Donors
wanted a piece of paper, so the government gave them one. Everything was done in os-
tentatiously public fashion. The government set up an Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) under
the Council of Ministers and installed as its chairman Om Yentieng, a long-time advisor
and satrap of the prime minister whom environmental campaigners had previously linked
to a number of “highly dubious” mining projects. 56 The ACU then moved into a promin-
ent compound on Norodom Boulevard in Phnom Penh and announced that it would begin
collecting mandatory asset declarations from government officials.
That's as far as anything went. The law didn't require spouses and family members
to make declarations of assets, and what information it did collect remained closed to
the public. The executive branch was in firm control of the ACU, leaving little hope that
probing questions would be asked of Hun Sen and other senior officials. On April 1, 2011
an absurd piece of theater ensued in which Hun Sen appeared before a pack of journalists
and TV cameras and publicly “declared” the 4.6 million riel ($1,150) monthly salary he
drew as prime minister. “Today,” he told the media, “I have fulfilled my obligation under
the Anti-Corruption Law.” 57 He then got up, entered his black, bullet-proof Mercedes-
Benz, and glided off to his next appointment.
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