Dear Subscribers of my Blog, and Some Additional Friends,
it is a long time since I wrote last time – at the time of my 91st birthday on 3 April 2025, and one follow-up, and then the information that my email account was hacked and is no longer usable; my new email is since then nhklein@gmail.com.
Why did I stop then? 2025 went up and down – computer problems, two hospitalizations in Bangkok and in Phnom Penh, and when I came back to the pepper farm in Kep some weeks ago, I had a painful relapse. One night I thought that this is the end, but I woke up again, and with the regular and careful guidance, through the Internet by a friendly doctor, I could get up again.
But there was also a positive element of having to stay in bed for weeks: I used to follow the news: not only President Trump and the Cambodian-Thailand conflict, and with growing fear: Venezuela and Greenland. But closest at home is Cambodia itself.
I observed two related basic concerns: illegal scam operations, and corruption
There had been vague reports since years about some compounds protected by armed guards, so that nobody could enter or know what is going on inside. But since about half a year ago, here was information about fraudulent scam operations, and by now it is an almost daily overwhelming flood of information.
Two elements helped to raise the ever increasing international concerns: Thailand claimed that some of their aerial bombings were to destroy compounds considered to be bases of scam operations. And the murder of a Korean young man who had obviously run away from a scam center where he was one of the hundreds of forced scam operators motivated the government of South Korea to send special police staff to start cooperating with the Cambodian authorities.
A special case was the final arrest and deportation of the 37 years old Chen Zhi, finally identified as the mastermind of an elaborate cyber-fraud network. He was the head of the Cambodian Prince Group which he had created in 2015. There he had been described on their website as “a respected entrepreneur and philanthropist (funding scholarships for needy students, etc.) whose vision and leadership has transformed the Prince Group into a leading business group in Cambodia that adheres to international standards.”
In 2020 he received the high title of “Neak Oknha” (which normally requires a donation of $500,000 to the government). Since 2017 he had become an official advisor to the Interior Minister Sar Kheng, and later to Prime Minister Hun Sen, and in 2023 to his son Hun Manet, after he became prime minister.
Popularly known also as the owner of the Prince Bank created in 2018, owning also several airlines, and many high rise buildings and land holdings, whose background is now revealed step by step.
But problems started in 2019 in Sihanoukville. Online gambling had attracted Chinese criminal gangs which started to fight each other. Cambodia banned online gambling – and subsequently around 450,000 Chinese left, many residential blocks in Sihanoukville were left empty as business collapsed.
On 14 October 2025, Chen Zhi was charged by the Department of Justice of the USA with overseeing a multi-national scam operation, running scam compounds that stole 15 billions of dollars in cryptocurrency from people in many different countries. Following, the USA and the UK have sanctioned 128 companies and 17 persons from 7 nationalities related to the Prince Group.
Now there is action in Cambodia. According to the Khmer Times, on 22 January 2026 Prime Minister Hun Manet lead “a meeting of the special commission to end the scourge while local leaders, particularly in border provinces, pledged to intensify crackdowns on technology-related crimes. Deputy Prime Minister Neth Savoeun, Minister of Interior Sar Sokha, Minister of Justice Koeut Rith, and Minister of Post and Telecommunication Chea Vandeth, and other senior officials attended the Commission for Combatting Online Scams meeting at the Council of Ministers. Local governors and the police chief were also present at the meeting. – The government did not provide further details.”
But some media were hoping for more details.
Twice, on 20 January, and again on 27 January 2026, the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs made similar elaborate statements, once by the Minister Prak Sokhonn, and then by a spokesperson of the Ministry, about the arrest and deportation to China on 6 January 2026: “Chen Zhi had Cambodian nationality, but when we made those investigations and found that his nationality was not legally obtained and he is also a Chinese national … we have decided to extradite him to China for further investigation over alleged transnational crime operations, following several months of joint investigative cooperation between the relevant authorities of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the People’s Republic of China.” The Ministry of the Interior clarified that Chen Zhi’s Cambodian nationality was revoked by a Royal Decree issued by His Majesty the King in December 2025.
But then, one week later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation further clarified in much detail the legal proceedings for the deportation of Chen Zhi, following and responding to media inquiries regarding the case.
According to the Ministry’s spokesperson, Cambodia’s decision to deport Chen Zhi to China, his country of origin, was carried out fully in accordance with Cambodian law and in line with the Kingdom’s commitments to mutual legal assistance and legal cooperation, stating all applied laws and regulations: If the Khmer nationality was acquired through forgery or false information during the application process, it may be revoked.
“The spokesperson stressed that the deportation was a sovereign legal decision made after it was discovered that the nationality had been obtained irregularly. They highlighted that the process reflected Cambodia’s firm commitment to the rule of law, and was a standard legal procedure.”
Chen Zhi had been sanctioned by both the USA and the UK already on 14 October 2025, accused of orchestrating the sprawling operation of a global transnational cyber-fraud network of “online scams and the laundering of stolen funds”.
Meanwhile, the US Justice Department seized approximately $15 billion worth of Bitcoin linked to the Prince Holding Group, calling it the “largest financial fraud in history”.
Since Chen Zhi was arrested, his businesses faced trouble, with sales suspended at some Prince Company projects, including Prince Happiness Plaza, Prince Golden Bay Condominium, Prince Huan Yu Center Condominium, Prince One Tropica Residential Project and Phum Samrong Residential Project, following a public order from the Real Estate Business and Pawnshop Regulator on 12 January 2026.
In mid-January, Prime Minister Hun Manet reaffirmed that tackling crime and digital threats remains a primary national priority to ensure long-term social security and order, confirming that cyber-crime poses a “serious danger to society” and a “complex threat” to societies worldwide.
Why then took, it from the time Chen Zhi was indicted in the USA and the UK in October 2025, until he was arrested in January 2026? One newspaper asked: while stressing that all legalities where observed for his arrest and deportation, why are the related texts stopping short of linking the move to the illegally received Cambodian citizenship, and not also to the allegations of global fraud and cyber-crime since October?
It stays in the dark who was involved in assisting to get his fraudulent Cambodian citizenship and his public positions.
While the case of cyber-crime is regularly filling the media since weeks – to give some examples: up to 500 Chinese nationals gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh seeking assistance to return to China, about 2,500 Indonesians stranded in Cambodia, also 100 Kenyans, 73 South Koreans have been deported as a group after having defrauded US$ 33 million, 36 Myanmar nationals deported, 13 Nepali nationals arrested, over 600 Vietnamese already deported – new reports came in almost daily.
However a serious statement by a member of the Royal Academy, published on 6 January 2026, has not been taken up for public discussion, not even once, as far as I see.
Kin Phea, the Director-General of the Relations Institute of Cambodia within the Royal Academy, urged the government to reform and eradicate corruption to strengthen the nation.
He called for a fundamental and uncompromising campaign to eradicate corruption, stressing that it remains the country’s most serious obstacle to governance, development, and public trust. His call emphasized the need for systemic reforms, stronger enforcement, and a cultural shift toward transparency and accountability.
I would have liked to quote his own text, but I tried in vain to find it anywhere in the usual information resources on the Internet. Instead, I quote here some parts of the 6 January 2026 report by The Cambodia Daily about Kin Phea’s statement:
“Cambodia’s Royal Academy has urged the government to carry out urgent internal reforms, warning that corruption and factional leadership are weakening the country at a time of heightened tension with a neighboring state. The Academy said corruption acts like an internal disease that erodes public trust and steadily weakens state authority, particularly when the country is confronted by what it describes as external aggression…
“Kin Phea, Director General of the International Relations Institute at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, wrote on social media on Monday that the government must deploy human resources based on merit and principles. He called for the removal of bloated administrative structures and redundant positions that exceed actual needs and drain large amounts of public funds each month. Kin Phea said a clean and transparent national administration is the foundation of strong and resilient state institutions. He emphasized the need for comprehensive reform of the defense sector, alongside economic reform, diplomatic reform, and enhanced public diplomacy…
He argued that only by eliminating corruption and patronage from the system of governance could Cambodia strengthen its economy, develop human capital, promote social justice, pursue a smart foreign policy and enhance its public diplomacy globally. Such steps, he added, would also help reinforce national unity. At the same time, he said Cambodia’s most urgent task is to rapidly restore and rebuild infrastructure damaged by what he described as Thai incursions, and to seek international support to repair ancient temples that have reportedly suffered damage.
“His comments follow a series of corruption allegations involving government officials at a time when Cambodia is facing the prospect of conflict with a neighboring country…
“Observers say anti corruption reforms in Cambodia remain extremely weak, particularly within the military. Unlike civilian officials, soldiers are not paid through banks but through their units, a system critics say allows corruption to persist and worsen.
“In 2025, Transparency International Cambodia released its Corruption Perceptions Index for 2024, ranking Cambodia second from the bottom among the ten ASEAN member states. Myanmar ranked lowest.”
The clearly highlighted issues would deserve a wider public discussion:
- Corruption as a national threat
- Systemic reform
- Rule of law and enforcement
- Transparency and governance culture
- International credibility
All the more it is surprising: While there are two deep problems in the country – one is daily present in the media for weeks and months, and the other remains surrounded by silence.