LettersCambodia should investigate those who enabled scam networks

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet’s commitments to international partners last month exposed the limits of the claim that the country is serious about dismantling the cyber-scam industry that has flourished within its borders.

Hun Manet spoke of stronger enforcement and closer cooperation with international partners. Yet his response to a question about US sanctions against Cambodian People’s Party senators Ly Yong Phat and Kok An told a different story. By dismissing the sanctions as legal matters to be contested, he sought to separate the allegations from the political system that elevated and protected the individuals.

That distinction is difficult to sustain. Online scam compounds that have trafficked tens of thousands of people into forced labour, generated billions of dollars in illicit proceeds and occupied major commercial developments did not emerge through isolated acts of corruption. They depended on political protection, patronage and regulatory failure. By the time Hun Manet became prime minister in 2023, investigative journalists, civil society organisations and the United Nations had been documenting links between scam compounds and politically connected business interests for some time.