Some 7,000 IDPoor Cards Revoked in Fraud Allegations
The Ministry of Planning blames local authorities for irregularities in the issuance of IDPoor cards to families too wealthy to be eligible. Photo: Ministry of Planning.
- Lay Sopheavatey
- August 25, 2020 12:39 PM
The Ministry of Planning blames local authorities for irregularities in the issuance of IDPoor cards to families too wealthy to be eligible.
PHNOM PENH--The Ministry of Planning has over the course of August 2020 revoked some 7,000 equity cards from families across country after they were found to be acquired fraudulently. The estimated 7,000 cards had been issued under the pretext of granting the families in question access to the IDPoor Program—a government subsidy initiative aimed as providing low levels of financial support to the country’s poorest and most vulnerable.
“We observed that there are many abnormalities taking places,” said Srey Da—a spokesperson for the Planning Ministry. “As there are many families who have better living conditions but still manage to get the cards.”
Da explained that this month’s irregularities were due to misconduct from local authorities who had been tasked with identifying low income families. The government has previously issued warning against corruption in relation to the IDPoor Program after reports circulated that local officials were registering their own families, despite not meeting the requirements for the program.
He went on to say that the irregularities have affected the ongoing work of local authorities and the Planning Ministry in identifying poor families who deserve to get the governmental support.
Toch Channy, a Ministry of Social Affairs spokesperson, said those 7,000 families who have had their cards invalidated already received the first month’s allowance from the government.
Channy disclosed that the government has no plan to recollect the money given to them to avoid any outrage which could trigger protests.
According the Ministry of Planning’s report, as of August 2020, the ministry has carried out three rounds of identification, with almost 670,000 households or some 2.6 million people being identified as eligible for the subsidy.
The IDPoor Program has been operated by the Planning Ministry with support from German development agency GIZ and the Australian government, but has recently been co-opted by the government as a means of mitigating the economic fallout of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that has seen hundreds of thousands of Cambodians lose their jobs or income.
Since June 2020, the government has pledged to spend $25 million per month—a figure that increased to $28 million more recently—in a bid to support the country’s most vulnerable.
