PHNOM PENH: Cambodian leaders inaugurated a new Senate building on Friday (Aug 21) funded by the country's top business people, including a tycoon sanctioned by the United States for alleged involvement in scam centres.
King Norodom Sihamoni cut the ribbon on the "Solidarity Palace", flanked by senior officials including Hun Sen, Cambodia's former long-time leader and currently president of the Senate, and his son, Prime Minister Hun Manet.
"I am very pleased to preside over the inauguration of the finest Solidarity Palace," Sihamoni said, hailing it as an "achievement" for the nation.
Initiated by Hun Sen, the four-and-half-storey building has a helipad on the roof and will mainly be used to host overseas visitors, according to Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn.
He said the building, which stands alongside other Senate buildings and also houses offices and a reception room, was designed, built and funded by Cambodians.
Officials refused to disclose the cost but a sign inside the building lists 11 donors, with senator and businessman Ly Yong Phat at the top.
Ly Yong Phat -- who attended Friday's ceremony -- was sanctioned in 2024 by US authorities, who accused his firm of "serious human rights abuses" related to the treatment of people trafficked to work in online scam centres.
He has denied reports linking him to cybercrime and money laundering networks, calling the accusations "fake and damaging to his reputation".
Cambodia has emerged as a hub for the transnational scam industry, where scammers -- some willing, others trafficked -- extract billions of dollars each year from victims through fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investment schemes.
Cambodian authorities say they are cracking down on the crimes.
Another listed donor to the new building is businessman Hun To, a cousin of Hun Manet.
Hun To said in May he had owned a 30-per cent stake but did not manage operations in a now shuttered digital payments platform linked to cyberscams and money laundering and sanctioned by the United States.
He had "never received any profits, dividends or assets" from the Huione Pay platform, Hun To said.
The US government last year accused Huione Group, which owned the payments platform and several other companies, of laundering funds for transnational criminal groups perpetrating internet scams from South-East Asia.
Huione's former chairman, Li Xiong, was extradited in April to China, where authorities accused him of a key role in a major transnational gambling and fraud syndicate.
The National Bank of Cambodia has revoked the Huione platforms' business licences. - AFP
