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Three Foreign Affairs Ministry officials have been charged with fraudulent embezzlement, abuse of power and money laundering for allegedly issuing more than 6,000 visas which were used by foreigners involved in online fraud operations, authorities said Monday.
According to Chhay Hong, deputy prosecutor and spokesperson for the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, Tho Samnang was charged with the offenses, including intentional destruction, under several different laws. These include Article 601 of the Criminal Code, Articles 32 and 35 of the Law on Anti-Corruption, and Articles 3 and 38 of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism 2020.
Nop Rotha and Yos Rane faced charges, such as conspiracy to commit intentional destruction, fraudulent embezzlement, abuse of power and money laundering under the same laws.
Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) spokesperson Soy Chanvichet said Samnang, formerly a director-general at the ministry, and officers Rotha and Rane were sent to the court on Sunday in connection with the illegal issuance of visas to foreigners.
He added that the ACU investigation found that the illegally-issued visas were used by foreigners who were criminals in online fraud.
On August 20, 2026, Samnang was brought in for questioning by the ACU on the allegations of illegal visa issuance. The ACU announced Samnang’s arrest after his family filed a missing person complaint.
The case comes as Cambodia continues to crack down on the online scam industry, which has allegedly made the “country a hub for transnational crime syndicates” which authorities and researchers say defraud tens of billions of dollars a year from victims worldwide. The United Nations estimated in 2023 that more than 100,000 people from dozens of countries have been subjected to forced or coerced labor in scam operations in Cambodia alone.
Samnang was dismissed from his position as Director-General at the ministry’s General Department of Legal, Consular and Border Affairs by a royal decree issued by Acting Head of State Hun Sen on April 28, 2026. Later, Samnang was appointed as advisor to the ministry, with a rank equivalent to director-general.
Sin Putheary, executive director of Transparency International Cambodia, welcomed ACU’s enforcement of the anti corruption law and for taking legal measures against officials who violate the law. Their action demonstrates that the law is effective, Putheary told CamboJA News.
“The public especially wants to see this law enforced broadly and consistently in the future in all cases,” she said. “We appreciate [ACU’s] enforcement of the law, to investigate and identify any irregularities in public interest, as well as enforcement across society.”
The government says it has shut down hundreds of scam compounds and deported tens of thousands of scam workers, but it continues to face criticism for failing to protect trafficking victims and for not acting against senior officials sanctioned by the United States over alleged links to the industry.
Ministry spokesperson Chann Ratana did not immediately respond to CamboJA News at the time of publication.
