Another Delay for Justice?

The Open Society Justice Initiative, an independent New York-based court monitor, first publicized the kickback allegations in February, but the push for accountability has devolved into a morass of finger-pointing. UNDP, whose $6.4 million is mostly used to pay Cambodian staff salaries, tried to wash its hands of responsibility. In a memo on the audit, UNDP concluded that the kickback allegations pertain to "personnel of the Government of Cambodia and therefore fall outside UNDP's jurisdiction." The letter further argued that because a "preliminary assessment" had yielded no conclusive evidence to substantiate the kickback claims, no further action by UNDP was required.

"That's stupid," said one high-ranking Western diplomat in Phnom Penh. "We cannot be blind to bribes."

ECCC officials have denied the kickback charges, and Helen Jarvis, the ECCC's chief spokeswoman, says the court has explicitly banned kickbacks in its new code of ethics and set up drop boxes at the court, where staffers can lodge anonymous complaints. The Cambodian government, meanwhile, has made no public move to investigate the allegations. Asked in June what the government is doing to address the allegations of corruption at the court, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An pointed back to UNDP. "We are fully aware about the problem," he said, adding, "The audit was done."

The kickback charges cast a cloud over the tribunal's judicial work, which has proceeded with far more diligence and speed over the last two months than many believed possible. On Sept. 19, Nuon Chea, the most senior Khmer Rouge leader still alive, joined his old comrade, Duch, who ran the notorious S21 torture prison--now a popular Phnom Penh tourist destination--in the tribunal's jail.

Nuon Chea is 82 and in frail health. Tribunal judges ordered a Bangkok heart specialist to do a thorough exam this week, after an initial round of questioning had to be cut short when, his lawyer said, his blood pressure rose precipitously. The detention center is already tackling a host of issues more suited to a retirement home than a prison. Nuon Chea requested a thicker mattress and a sit-down toilet, according to his lawyer: The Cambodian-style squat toilet was too much for his old, stiff knees to handle.

© 2007