Cambodia Daily publisher's defamation trial begins

Niem Chheng and Ananth Baliga | Publication date 22 March 2018 | 12:36 ICT

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A man reads the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh on its last day of publication after the paper was forced to close in 2017 over a massive tax bill. AFP

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday morning opened proceedings in the defamation trial against the deputy publisher of The Cambodia Daily, but deferred its conclusion after an hour-long hearing brought up procedural issues relating to translations and a court summons in the case brought by the country's Tax Department.

Deborah Krisher-Steele, deputy publisher of the now-shuttered newspaper, was sued by the Tax Department last September. The department accused Krisher-Steele of leaking a confidential tax document to the media and saying the tax audit of the Daily was politically motivated.

The newspaper stopped publishing a month after it was served a $6.3 million tax bill, which it was given 30 days to pay, with the issue escalating into a public fight between the Daily and the Tax Department, following the leak of a document to government mouthpiece Fresh News.

The trial, which Krisher-Steele did not attend, started with defence lawyer Ham Sunrith saying that his client had not received a summons for the case. But Prosecutor Keo Sokunthea insisted that it had been delivered to the defendant, with Judge Seng Leang siding with the prosecutor and allowing the proceedings to continue.

Tax Department Deputy Director Vann Puthipol, who is the complainant, was represented by his colleague, Heng Narith, who presented a statement on behalf of the department.

He claimed that Krisher-Steele spoke to media outlets in late August alleging that the Tax Department had leaked the document, breaching confidentiality, and characterising the tax investigation as politically motivated.

“The Tax Department is a law enforcement institution and follows the regulations, and no documents were leaked by the department. These accusations have affected the reputation of the Tax Department,” Narith said.

The court adjourned the hearing until April 12 because Krisher-Steele’s statement, provided by the defence, had not been translated by official translators. Judge Leang gave her lawyers until then to re-submit the translated statement.