Corruption crippling Cambodian tax system, minister says

dpa Germany Press Agency

Phnom penh - Rampant corruption in both the private and state sectors has made tax collectoin in some area virtually impossible, finance minister Keat Chhon said Tuesday. The minister dismissed opposition politicians's criticism that the government waas squandering tax revenues, saying the real problem was ften unable to collect them.

"At the moment some companies have two set of books. Some state institutions also have two set of books," Keat Chhon said, hinting that these may also be included some ministries.

"Two set of books mean corruption. The ( Cambodian) Auditor General researches, but then come back with no results. I think we should use penal law to investigate and punish those who do this," he said.

He also conceded that powerful interests were involved in area such as land-tax collection and that legal uses were used to disquise ownership.

International donors have called on the govrenment to make serious reforms of the county's tax system.

They have also demanded that rigorous anti-corruption legislation be enacted, but although priminister Hun Sen had promised that bill would be put before the national assembly by the end of 2006, he recently cited ongoing reform to penal law and other complications as a reason for delaying the measure.