Dr Kek Pung
President
LICADHO
9th Dec 2014
Dear Dr Pung
You do not respond in any way to my
letters or answer any of my questions.
If there is one lesson to be learnt
from David Fletcher’s predicament it is that no British man charged with sex
offences in Cambodia can expect LICADHO, ADHOC, Foreign Secretary Phillip
Hammond or the media to defend his right to a fair trial.
In response to a recent blog entry,
about the murder of Dave Walker and the
possible complicity of non government organizations, the following comment
appeared.
“If Dave Walker
was murdered because he was on the verge of exposing scams like the one that
netted Fletcher and if APLE was involved WTF is Licadho doing partnering with thieves
and murderers!”
Are you sure, Dr Pung, that LICADHO
has not, in its quest to rid Cambodia of sex offenders, partnered with ‘thieves
and murderers’?
You have certainly, in the case of
APLE, entered into a close working relationship with an NGO that has no qualms
about pursuing and prosecuting a man (David Fletcher) whom APLE knows to be
innocent of the crime of rape. And now you know that David Fletcher cannot be
guilty of raping Yang Dany – unless, that is you believe a woman’s hymen can
grow back.
Barely a week passes when LICADHO
does not issue a statement critical of the Cambodian government, call for
greater transparency, accountability and so on. Why is it that LICADHO never
issues any statements critical of NGOs? Why does LICADHO remain silent about
what is clearly a breach of David Fletcher’s legal and human rights in being
denied any trial at all in which he can call witnesses, present evidence,
conduct a defense?
Even if there was compelling evidence
that he had raped Yang Dany (and there is none) David Fletcher is entitled to a
fair trial in accordance with the Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure. By
remaining silent on the case of Mr Fletcher and other men in positions similar
to his (Matt Harland, for example), LICADHO is sending a very clear message to
APLE and the Cambodian judiciary:
“Do what you
like with men who may or may not be sex offenders. LICADHO will make no
comment, offer no criticism and make no public demands that these men are
entitled to fair trials.”
Since I began this blog I have been
inundated with emails from readers who are concerned about the lack of
transparency, accountability and legality of the way in which APLE conducts its
affairs. And by others who have information that, cumulatively, points towards
extraordinary levels of corruption within certain NGOs, including APLE. I would
love to be able to pass all of this information on to some independent
investigating body that would assess it impartially but there is no such body
or organization in Cambodia.
With LICADHO’s disinterest in and
silence about NGO human and legal rights abuses, and with a government that is
corrupt, where does one go with information that requires independent
investigation? There is nowhere. Corrupt NGOs know this and can exploit it –
especially when they have plenty of money to throw around to buy the silence of
anyone who may feel inclined to speak out.
It is only a few days since I found
out that Terres des Hommes gave APLE 1.6 million Euros last Dec. How much, if
any, of this money flows to LICADHO? This is a legitimate question, Dr Pek,
given Naly’s relationship with APLE. Or perhaps I should phrase the question
thus:
“How much money
does Naly receive for services rendered to APLE?”
If Naly receives no remuneration, if
LICADHO receives no remuneration, why not come out and say so? If you are
confident that APLE conducts its affairs with due respect for Cambodian law and
for the legal and human rights of men like David Fletcher, why not come out and
say so?
My suspicion is that Terres des
Hommes, in giving such a large sum to the NGO, is unaware of APLE’S modus
operandi – unless, that is, Terres des Hommes has as little interest in the
guilt or innocence of the men jailed as LICADHO? There is still a cohort of
women who believe that all men are rapists; that any man who wishes to have
anything to do with children other than his own must be a pedophile. A
witch-hunt mentality has gripped much of the Western world when it comes to
pedophiles (real and imagined) and there is, as APLE knows, a lot of money to
be made out of exploiting this fear.
One comment I received privately in the
past couple of days includes the following:
“I was out late one night & went out for a smoke chatting
with a couple asked what they did etc, then was asked what I did I replied I
had a small hotel in Thailand & was wiped out by the tsunami ....... her
reply was & I quote " ARE YOU A PEDOPHILE???" (I am not, just to
let you know) I am very good at cutting people to the quick verbally, but was
so insulted & angry I chose not to respond because I would have verbally
destroyed her & probably ended up being accosted by her husband; the
security guard (who I had previously got on well with) overheard the
conversation & followed me around for 15 min then told me to leave?? WTF!!
So I can empathise with David in his current situation. If David has done
anything then he deserves to be punished accordingly!!”
A day will come when this hysteria is
recognized for what it is; just as the day came when the Salem witch hunt was
recognized for what it was. Yes, there are pedophiles out there in the world.
Yes, they should be found and punished. In the process of doing so, however,
innocent men should not be jailed in order to feed the business model of an
organization such as APLE; a business model that requires a constant stream of
men to prosecute and incarcerate if APLE is to be seen to be competent at its
job.
With enormous sums of money flowing
into APLE’s coffers from organizations such as Terres des Hommes you can be
sure that Thierry Darnaudet, Samleang Seila, Ana Piniero and others are well
aware that they will have to deliver a constant supply of pedophiles and sex
offenders to convince these donors that they are doing a good job. Without a
high arrest and conviction rate the sponsors and donors may not feel inclined
to be as generous next year. From a business point of view this would be a
disaster. APLE needs a constant supply of sacrificial victims to keep its
business thriving. The laws of supply and demand operate here. Sponsors and
donors demand pedophile convictions and APLE supplies them. The perfect
business model and who is going to criticize it? As Mr Samleang Seila has made
clear in public statements, anyone who starts up a blog such as my own must be
a pedophile. And anyone who advocates the right of men like David Fletcher to a
fair trial can so easily be accused of being ‘soft on pedophiles.’
If LICADHO is in receipt of any money
from ALPE and this is the reason for your silence, Dr Pung, you are part and
parcel of the problem that APLE represents. If LICADHO is not in receipt of any
money from APLE but chooses to remain silent about APLE’S modus operandi, you
are nonetheless morally culpable. There is now so much evidence of APLE’s legal
and human rights abuses that it is only a matter of time before the NGO’s scam
is exposed as Somaly Mam’s was. Indeed, the APLE scam is much much worse than
Somaly Mam’s. She may have lied about her past but, to the best of my
knowledge, did not include in her own business model the jailing of innocent
men in order to keep donations flowing into her Foundation’s coffers.
Please reassure me, Dr Pung, and the
many people now following this blog, that you have faith in APLE or that you
have concerns about the way in which this NGO secures the conviction of men
like David Fletcher on the basis or little or no evidence and then guarantees
that there will be no trial that even comes close to meeting the requirements
laid out in the Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure.
best wishes
James Ricketson
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