Interior Ministry Denies Hiding Citizenship of Foreigners

Touch Sokhak is the spokesman of the Ministry of Interior. Photo: Touch Sokhak

PHNOM PENH – Cambodia has never hidden citizenship documents granted to foreigners, Interior Ministry spokesperson Touch Sokhak says, denying allegations by an international investigative journalism organisation.

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) said Cambodia granted citizenship to foreigners but was hiding the details which had previously been made public in the royal gazette.

The report suggested that such matter could give advantages to criminals for cross-border travel, investments and money laundering.

“Now that this data is secret, it is much easier for criminals to use these passports to evade arrest,” Jason Tower, an analyst at the government-supported United States Institute of Peace, told OCCRP.

However, Sokhak said the grant of citizenship followed strict legal procedures and urged OCCRP to strengthen their research procedures to maintain the country’s honor internationally.

Sokhak said the report, which had no basis, was politically motivated to slander Cambodia’s image. 

“There are no national or international laws stating that each nation must always provide information as outsiders need.”

Am Sam Ath, operations director of the human rights NGO LICADHO, called for stricter procedures of the grant of citizenship. 

He spoke of foreigners with Cambodian passports being arrested for money laundering in Singapore. 

“Besides the procedures, the biography of individuals should also be reviewed so that we can ensure that the citizenship is not given to people who commit crimes and affects the honor of Cambodia,” he said. 

Sokhak said citizenship is granted based on legal procedures. 

“We do it according to the law and check the background of the individual. However, we cannot judge based on their outside look. We cannot know what they will do in the future,” he said.

“Those individuals committing crimes did not reflect the opportunity to commit any crimes after getting the citizenship.” 

The government always publishes the documents of citizenship for foreigners in the official gazette, and the government does not hide anything about the grant of citizenship Sokhak said.  

“If the data had been hidden, where would the publisher have gotten the figure from? We show the data in according with the law,” he said.

An individual can obtain Cambodian citizenship through birth, marriage, and naturalization. 

Article 18 of the Law on Nationality says a foreigner can request citizenship through naturalization. However, this was in the favor of Cambodia and was not the right of that individual. In any case, such an application may be rejected by a discretionary power.

Article 19 says any foreigner who applies for naturalization shall have a paper certifying that they have good behavior and moral conduct issued by the chief of the commune or quarter of their own residence; have a letter of certification of the past criminal record which stated that they had never been convicted for any criminal offence before; lived in Cambodia for seven years from the date of reception of a residence card which was issued under framework of the Law on Immigration; and be able to speak Khmer. 

 

Originally written in Khmer for ThmeyThmey, this story was translated by Meng Seavmey for Cambodianess.  

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