# 28 Former Hollywood mogul finds fulfilment in a Cambodian rubbish dump

The following article appeared in the Vancouver Sun a few days ago. I have some questions for Scott, which I have interspersed throughout the article.

The Apostle Paul’s epiphany came in a blinding flash on the road to Damascus. Scott Neeson — the former president of 20th Century Fox International — had his while standing on a garbage dump outside Phnom Penh.

QUESTION: Were you ever president of 20^th Century Fox International?

The problem with epiphanies is that no one really wants one because the results can be drastic.

How drastic?

When Neeson first surveyed the horror of that garbage dump, with children living and dying on its 11-hectares of waste and filth, he couldn’t have known he would soon be living on the edge of the dump himself — Hollywood and one of the great glamour jobs in the world left behind.

Neeson had been travelling in Asia in 2003 after leaving 20th Century Fox, where he had made more than 200 films in 10 years, including Titanic and Braveheart.

In what sense did you ‘make’ 200 films?

“I took a break before joining Sony Pictures so I could cleanse my soul of Hollywood and someone took me to this garbage dump outside Phnom Penh,” Neeson said Tuesday in Vancouver.

“It was horrendous. The epiphany — when I knew I was going to be doing this forever — happened when I took a 10-year-old girl and her mother out of the dump that day and, through a translator, found them a rental house, a way to deliver rice, a stipend. And all for less than $45 a month. It just seemed so easy.”

This was someone who was making a million dollars a year but didn’t believe in giving to charity.

A year later he had waved goodbye to Hollywood, sold his home, his cars and his boat, and moved to Cambodia.

Out of his own pocket he set up the Cambodian Children’s Fund to care for some 2,000 children living or working near that rubbish dump in Steung Meanchey district.

Were you, in 2004, taking care of 2,000 kids, paid for out of your own pocket?

It’s probably only a matter of time before someone makes a movie about it, but Neeson — born in Scotland, raised in Australia and proud of working-class roots — isn’t sentimental, nor does he see himself in the Mother Teresa mould.

“Honestly, I try an avoid that kind of stuff because it all goes downhill from there if you don’t.”

On Tuesday night he was in the sales office of Vancouver House on Howe Street to thank the 380 purchasers of units in the luxury 59-storey highrise that will be completed in 2018.

For every unit sold, a new 130-square-foot home worth $2,500 will be built in Steung Meanchey to house families who eke out a living on the garbage dump.

How much does it cost to make one 130-square meter home?

How much do you charge World Housing per home?

How much rent do you charge the poor families who live in these homes?

It is the result of a relationship between Neeson and Vancouver-based World Housing, which promotes the one-for-one real estate gifting based on TOMS Shoes model, where TOMS gives away a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair purchased by a customer.

The project was backed by Ian Gillespie, president of Westbank Projects Corp., which is building Vancouver House, after he met with World Housing founder Peter Dupuis.

Neeson said the 380 homes will house over 2,000 people and will be located in a gated community. Each house will have electricity and there will be shared washrooms and bathrooms for every six families.

Why will the community be ‘gated’?

Parents who want the homes have to agree to keep their children in school — not working in the dump, must be free from drug or alcohol abuse and not involved in domestic violence.

What contractual arrangements does the Cambodian Children’s Fund enter into with parents of children being cared for by CCF?

Are parents given an opportunity to obtain advice of any kind from another source before signing a contract with CCF?

Are parents allowed to retain a copy of the contract they have entered into with CCF?

Will you release copies of such contracts to human rights organizations and  journalists?

Neeson found the social problems at the garbage dump overwhelming.

Babies and children are routinely abandoned among the rubbish; children whose parents are victims of usury sell their children into prostitution to pay off loans they can never hope to meet; while the routine level of violence against women and children was numbing.

Of the 2000 children in CCF’s care, how many were ‘abandoned among the rubbish’?

He carries pictures of some of the children on his phone.

Here’s one of a year-old baby abandoned on the dump with tetanus — “didn’t know he’d survive, only 50-50 chance, but now he’s in our nursery.”

Next is one of two girls, perhaps five years old.

“Raped by guys who tried to kill them. This child was beaten until she was unconscious and raped and wasn’t expected to live. This child, the guy thought he’d drowned her. These girls can’t stay at home now so they stay at our facility,” he said.

This one “stepped on a landmine and lost both her legs and she was brought to us.”

“Just look at that picture. (She’s lying in bed surrounded by toys.) She doesn’t even want to look at me. All she wants is to die. But now she’s the princess of our residential centre.”

Neeson says he knows the names of each of the 2,000 children his organization helps.

Graham Brewster, managing director of World Housing who was recently with Neeson in Cambodia, swears it’s true.

“I was blown away by him doing that. He knew the name of every child he met,” Brewster said.

The Cambodian Children’s Fund operates on a budget of about $8 million a year without government support and has 540 staff.

Do you really have 540 paid members of staff?

How much do you pay your 540 staff per month?

It provides schooling, food, medical care, child care and housing, will undertake to pay off crippling debts allowing families to pay back loans at normal interest rates, and has resulted in Neeson being showered with awards for his humanity.

If CCF undertakes to ‘pay off crippling debts’, why do you evict families from homes rented from CCF for being $12.50 in debt to CCF?

However, when he gets down to it, Neeson admits he really doesn’t like living in Phnom Penh.

“But I’ve got all these relationships with all these kids I’m raising. These are kids who’ve never been picked up or held. And for me to just know their names means the world to them.”

How many of the children at CCF have never been ‘picked up or held’?

***

The Vancouver Sun article about Scott Neeson can be found at:

http://www.vancouversun.com/Former+Hollywood+mogul+finds+fulfilment+Cambodian+rubbish+dump/10353483/story.html

Other questions asked of Scott Neeson over the past few years can be found at the following addresses:

# 1 Is Scott Neeson the knight in shining armour he presents himself to the world to be?

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/05/is-scott-neeson-knight-in-shining.html

# 2 Is Scott Neeson a saint? A bully? A liar? Or perhaps all these?

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/05/2-is-scott-neeson-saint-bully-liar-or.html

# 3 Scott Neeson lies about buying land for rubbish dump family

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/05/3-scott-neeson-lies-about-buying-land.html

# 4 Scott Neeson reveals his true colours

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/05/4-scott-neeson-reveals-his-true-colours.html

# 5 Scott Neeson's refusal to answer questions raises serious doubts about his honesty and integrity

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/05/5-scott-calls-filmmaker-who-asks.html

# 6 "You are a voyeur" Scott Neeson tells filmmaker who asks too many questions!

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/05/6-you-are-voyeur-scott-neeson-tells.html

# 7 Scott Neeson's responses to legitimate media questions raises a Pandora's box of other questions

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/05/7-scott-neesons-responses-to-legitimate.html

# 8 Scott Neeson exposed as a liar

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/05/8-scott-neeson-exposed-as-liar.html

# 9 email to Scott Neeson, 22nd Feb 2014

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/05/9-email-to-scott-neeson-22nd-feb-2014.html

# 10 A few questions for Scott Neeson and the Cambodian Children's Fund, dated 2nd June 2014

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/06/10-few-questions-for-scott-neeson-and.html

# 11 Some questions that Heather Graham should ask Scott Neeson

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/06/some-questions-that-heather-graham.html

# 12 Response from Scott Neeson to my letter to Heather Graham

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/06/12-response-from-scott-neeson-to-my.html

# 13 A note to Chuan and Ka regarding my promise to the family - to be passed on, or not, by Scott Neeson?

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/06/13-note-to-chuan-and-ka-regarding-my.html

# 14 My response to Scott Neeson's online Cambodia 440 response to my letter to Heather Graham

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/06/my-response-to-scott-neesons-online.html

# 15 More questions for Scott Neeson

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/06/more-questions-for-scott-neeson.html

# 16 Scott Neeson's wage per month - $10,000. A CCF teacher's wage per month - $120

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/07/16-scott-neesons-wage-per-month-10000.html

# 17 CCF Child Protection Unit's involvement in public arrest of Long Ven

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/07/ccf-child-protection-units-involvement.html

# 18 to Heather Graham and her publicist, Lindsay Galin re CCF's Child Protection Unit

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/07/to-heather-graham-and-her-publicist.html

# 19 Questions for Scott Neeson proliferate. Scott's refuses to answer them.

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/07/19-questions-for-scott-neeson.html

# 20 for Bob Alexander, Chief Operating Officer, CCF

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/08/20-for-bob-alexander-chief-operating.html

# 21 Is Scott Neeson Cambodia's next Somaly Mam-style scam scandal?

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/10/is-scott-neeson-cambodias-next-somaly.html

# 22 Three to four kids in each bed, Scott? And many more sleeping on the floor!

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/10/three-to-four-kids-in-each-bed-scott.html

# 23 Were you a participant, Scott, in Peter Hogan's plot to see David Fletcher jailed regardless of overwhelming evidence in support of him his innocence of the crime of rape?

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/11/25-scott-nesson-locks-poor-family-out.html

# 24 Scott Neeson complicit in 'Stolen Generation' of Cambodian children?

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/10/24-scott-neeson-complicit-in-stolen.html

# 25 Scott Nesson locks poor family out of their home over $12.50 debt

http://cambodianchildrensfund.blogspot.com/2014/10/were-you-participant-scott-in-peter.html

# 27 Trying to get answers from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre re David Fletcher

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre


33 Vauxhall Bridge Road


London

SW1V 2WG

United Kingdom

Dear CEOPS

re David John Fletcher

I am an Australian journalist and filmmaker investigating a case that CEOPS was involved with in 2009 and 2010. The matter concerns a man by the name of David John Fletcher, currently serving a 10 year jail sentence in Cambodia for the rape of a young woman by the name of Yang Dany in 2009.

It is clear from newspaper articles and court documents that CEOPS was involved in investigating claims made by Scott Neeson (the Cambodian Children’s Fund) and others that Mr Fletcher was ‘grooming’ young girls in 2009 and 2010.

I have not been able to find evidence in any court documents that Mr Fletcher had been grooming young girls. Nor have I been able to find any report written by CEOPS containing evidence either of ‘grooming’ or of rape. It would seem, unless there are documents missing from the court file, that CEOPS did not, in the course of its investigations, find any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Mr Fletcher. Am I correct in making this assumption?

I am currently writing a book and making a film about this case and would appreciate any information you can provide me with regarding CEOPS involvement in it. As you will appreciate, it is imperative that both my book and my documentary be factually accurate.

I am moving around the world a good deal at the present time and the best and most reliable way to contact me is by email.

best wishes

James Ricketson

FOUR DAYS AGO I RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING RESPONSE FROM DEBBIE CHISOLM, PRESS OFFICER, NATIONAL CRIME AGENCY

Hi James,

Thank you for your recent letter.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Command of the UK's National Crime Agency is aware of a British national being convicted of child sexual abuse offences in Cambodia, but the detail and nature of the offences that led to his conviction are a matter for the local law enforcement.

The CEOP Command works closely with national and international law enforcement agencies, providing specialist expertise and support in relation to complex child sexual abuse investigations. However, we do not comment on investigations that are led by partner agencies.

Hope this is helpful.

Debbie

                                   MY RESPONSE TO DEBBIE:

Debbie Chisholm

Press Officer

National Crime Agency

1-7 Old Queen Street

Westminster

London, SW1H 9HP

3^rd Nov 2014

Dear Debbie

re David John Fletcher

Your email of 31^st. Oct, far from being helpful, raises more questions:

“What are the names of the ‘partner agencies’ that led CEOPS investigation into Mr Fletcher?”

Is CEOPS happy with the way in which these ‘partner’ agencies’ have used the results of CEOPS’ investigations in legal proceedings?

These questions are pertinent both to Mr Fletcher’s forthcoming court case and to my own desire, as a journalist/writer and documentary filmmaker, to be in possession of as many verifiable facts as possible regarding this matter; to give all involved an opportunity to present their side of the story.

CEOPS investigators came to Cambodia in 2010 with the express intention of investigating allegations made by Scott Neeson that Mr Fletcher was ‘grooming’ young girls. In none of the court documents can I find any reference to CEOPS having uncovered evidence of Mr Fletcher’s being guilty of doing so. This leads me to believe that CEOPS did not find anything illegal or untoward about Mr Fletcher’s behavior towards young girls. Is this correct?

As CEOPS is well aware, Mr Fletcher was not charged in Cambodia with ‘grooming’ but with rape. As CEOPS is also aware (and has been since September 2010) the ‘rape victim’ was found by an examining doctor to be a virgin after the rape. And, as CEOPS is also now aware, the ‘victim’ has recently admitted, both to my camera and to other journalists, that no rape took place.

Whilst evidence pertaining to ‘grooming’ was not, in accordance with the Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure, admissible in Mr Fletcher’s secret rape trial, Scott Neeson’s allegations (not backed up by any hard evidence) were aired in court and these played a role in the judges finding Mr Fletcher guilty of rape! (If you trace Scott Neeson’s allegations back, you will find that they begin with Peter Hogan, the owner of a Cambodian blog by the name of Khmer440; they began with a man who, by his own admission, spent 4 years pursuing Mr Fletcher with the intention of having him imprisoned.)

If CEOPS is in possession of evidence that Mr Fletcher was guilty of ‘grooming’ (or of any other offence against children) he should be charged with such offenses. He has not been. In flying all the way to Cambodia to investigate Mr Fletcher, and making your investigation publicly known to Peter Hogan, CEOPS cast a shadow of doubt over his behavior – raising in the minds of the general public the legitimate question: “Why else, readers of Andrew Drummond’s June 2010 article would quite legitimately ask, would CEOPS be in Cambodia investigating Mr Fletcher if there was nothing to investigate?”

The appropriate course of action for CEOPS to have taken, once it had completed its investigations in June 2010, would have been to announce: (a) We have found no evidence of Mr Fletcher’s guilt or (b) We have provided the Cambodian authorities with the results of our investigations.

Perhaps this is what you mean with your reference to ‘partner agencies’. If (b) be the case, the question arises:

“Is CEOPS happy with the way in which these ‘partner agencies’ have used the results of its investigations to have Mr Fletcher imprisoned for 10 years for rape?”

I am trying to place CEOPS’ involvement in a time line, Debbie, and I hope you can help me.

At some point in June 2010 CEOPS completed its investigation into allegations that Mr Fletcher had ‘groomed’ young girls. CEOPS had not come to Cambodia to investigate allegations that Mr Fletcher had raped Yang Dany. Indeed, at the time CEOPS completed its investigations (June 2010) no such allegation had yet been made. It was not until after Mr Fletcher had left Cambodia that the rape allegations were made.

Shortly after their return to the UK (June 2010), CEOPS investigators familiar with the case would have learned that Mr Fletcher had been charged with rape. Given that there had been no talk of rape a few weeks earlier, surely this must have caught their attention and made them wonder how this rape allegation could come out of the blue as it did, after they had left the country. And by September 2010, when a doctor’s report was prepared for the court, these same CEOPS operatives would have become aware that Yang Dany remained a virgin after her rape. Did no alarm bells ring for these CEOPS investigators? Did it not occur to them that Mr Fletcher may have been set up on fake rape charges to extort money from him? The CEOPS investigators could not fail to be aware that Cambodia is amongst the most corrupt countries in the world!

“Did CEOPS, in September 2010, ask any questions of its ‘partner agencies’ in Cambodia regarding Yang Dany’s intact hymen after her alleged rape?”

“If so, did CEOPS accept the proposition, endorsed by the judges in the secret trial, that Yang Dany’s hymen must have grown back?”

If CEOPS does not accept the ‘hymen-grown-back’ explanation for Yang Dany’s remaining a virgin after her rape:

“Has CEOPS made any representations at all to its ‘partner agencies’ – asking for more information? Particularly now that Yan Dany has admitted that no rape took place?”

Or has CEOPS washed its hands in the investigation and is prepared to see Mr Fletcher die in jail on the basis of evidence that would not stand up in any court of law in any country that actually abided by the rule of law?

By now, I think you will agree, CEOPS had been identified in a very public manner as being very much involved in both the investigation into Mr Fletcher’s activities in Cambodia and his conviction for rape. Refusing to answer any questions at all is not, from a moral point of view, an option.

Whilst I am primarily concerned with Mr Fletcher’s right to a fair trial, I am also interested (as both a journalist/writer and filmmaker) in the question of his ‘grooming’ of young girls. If he has done so, if there is evidence that he has done so, he should be charged with this offence.

This brings me back to my original question:

“Does CEOPS have any evidence at all that Mr Fletcher is guilty of ‘grooming’?”

If you simply refuse to answer this question, as I suspect will be the case, this will leave Mr Fletcher in a no-man’s land vis a vis his guilt or innocence. Some readers and viewers will conclude that CEOPS must have evidence of his guilt. Others will conclude that CEOPS found nothing and draw their own conclusions from CEOPS’ silence, in Nov 2014 - now that Yang Dany’s post-rape virginity and her denial that any rape took place are in the public arena.

One last question:

“If CEOPS found no evidence that Mr Fletcher was guilty of ‘grooming’, will CEOPS testify to this effect at Mr Fletcher’s forthcoming trial?”

I passed your email on to Mr Fletcher. He wrote an email back to me, asking that I pass it on to you. It reads:

Dear Debbie,

A recent communication from CEOPS to Mr James Ricketson has come to my attention that suggests and implies you have evidence of unsavoury acts with children by myself.

I officially request from CEOPS, as my right under the F.O.I. act that you supply me with copies of all documents you hold pertaining to me.

I attach a copy of my drivers licence as I.D. and i am very sure you are aware i am known by the the British Embassy in Phnom Penh. I do not have a valid passport as this was destroyed ' by mistake' by the fco in Bangkok,  according to their unsubstanciated explanation.

Furthermore, i request a fully itemised receipt and the return of my personal property that was in store and stolen in Phnom Penh in 2010 by CEOPS personell.

I also request the percentage of funding you receive from the fco, as an ngo this information should be freely available to the public.

This letter, your reply, or lack of may be published.

Regards,

David John Fletcher.

On a final note on my return to the UK i shall be paying CEOPS a visit for an explanation of their agenda.

I have attached a copy of a document signed by David Fletcher giving me the right to ask questions on his behalf. My question is: “What must Mr Fletcher do to make an FOI request to obtain copies of documents relating to his ‘grooming’ of girls held by CEOPS and relating to his forthcoming court case.”

best wishes

James Ricketson