Li Kuong, the owner of an alleged Sihanoukville scam compound, has been granted the title of nobility Neak Oknha, according to a royal decree made public on June 20.
Commerce Ministry records list Li as the sole director of Big House Commercial Corporation, which owns the Majestic Two casino, also known as the Huang Le compound. In March, a BBC documentary alleged the Huang Le is a site of scam operations and human trafficking.
The tycoon declined to tell CamboJA how much he had donated to the government prior to becoming a Neak Oknha. The title of Oknha, which is below the rank of Neak Oknha, reportedly costs $500,000 and periodic donations to the government.
Li dismissed the allegations against him and the compound he owns.
“I am not concerned because what they [BBC documentary] have allegedly accused is not true, and that location wasn’t involved, all pictures were taken from Myanmar,” Li claimed. “I do nothing wrong, there’s no worries. We have operated business legally.”
But Preah Sihanouk deputy governor Long Dimanche previously did not dispute the validity of the footage from the documentary. In April, he told CamboJA that “some of the events and images published by the BBC were old images before our operations to crack down on human trafficking. When we already cracked down…a few months later the BBC published the story.”
When CamboJA reached Dimanche on Monday, he claimed to not know Li Kuong and declined to talk further.
Preah Sihanouk authorities had issued a statement in April claiming the BBC’s reports of alleged torture, forced captivity and criminal activities in Huang Le compound were “baseless.”
The casino had its license renewed on December 27, 2022. Li’s promotion to neak oknha was first reported by the watchdog site Cyber Scam Monitor.
The documentary had featured testimony from a man who escaped from the compound by jumping out of the building. The building’s owner wondered aloud how the man had survived jumping so high up, suggesting the BBC had faked the documentary.
“After jumping we saw pictures that didn’t show any injuries on their hands and feet,” he claimed.
The BBC documentary “wanted to attack our Kampong Som [Sihanoukville province] or criticize our country because I am not involved at all.”
On his Telegram account, Li features a photo with Interior Minister Sar Kheng, who oversees the National Police and is leading efforts to crack down on human trafficking and scam compounds.
On June 15, the US government issued its annual Trafficking In Persons report, which found for the second year in a row that Cambodia failed to meet “minimum standards” to combat human trafficking and was not “making significant efforts to do so.”
Provincial police chief Chuon Narin said he was in a meeting and could not talk. National Police spokesperson Chhay Kim Khoeun could not be reached for comment.
Cambodia Oknha Association spokesperson Hun Lak, who is leading an effort to improve the ethics and image of tycoons in Cambodia, immediately hung up when asked about the promotion of Li to Neak Oknha status and his ownership of an alleged scam compound.
The title means “lord.” Last year, at least 33 Oknha titles were handed out, according to the public database Kamnotra.
