Senior police officer’s wife gets arrest warrant over bringing maids to Malaysia

Phnom Penh (15 Dec, 2011): A director of a local company has been charged of illegal confinement, underage recruitment, and falsifying documents, police said.

Ms. Nhiek Sothea – the wife Deputy Chief of the National Police’s International Relation Office at the Interior Ministry – obtained arrest warrant from Phnom Penh municipal court for illegal recruiting underage trainees for employment as maids in Malaysia.

During a raid on 21 Oct, 2011 into Ms. Sothea’s SKMM Investment Group Co Ltd based in Phnom Penh dealing with oversea labour recruitment, police found 78 recruits, many of whom are teens. A few of SKMM employees have been detained and the police are now looking for Ms Sothea.

On 15 October after a series of reports on labour agencies abusing and exploiting Cambodian young ladies to be maids in Malaysia, Prime Minister Hun Sen banned any sending such labour forces to Malaysia.