Cambodian police chief dies in helicopter crash: govt

Good news: The suprem Mafia leader, Hok Landie, dead. The cold blood killer Hok Landead is the notorious Mafia in Hun Sen regime and the one that took responsible for all crimes in Phnom Penh. God punished him.

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Cambodia's top policeman died in a helicopter crash in bad weather that also claimed the life of a top-ranking army general, a government spokesman told AFP Sunday.

Chief of police Hok Lundy and General Sok Sa Em were passengers in a helicopter that came down shortly after it took off Sunday from Phnom Penh airport, ministry of interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak said.

"In the helicopter there was a pilot, a co-pilot, the national police chief and the deputy commander of the military. All four died," Khieu Sopheak said.

Khieu Sopheak said the helicopter came down in southeastern Svay Rieng province.

"The reason for the crash was bad weather. There was a heavy rain," he added.

He said radio contact had been lost 15 minutes after it took off from Phnom Penh airport at around 7:20 pm (1220 GMT).

Hok Lundy, head of the country's police for over a decade, had been routinely criticised by international organisations for alleged human rights abuses and corruption within his force.

Hok Lundy was also accused of involvement in politically motivated killings and drug trafficking.

Human rights groups protested a decision to allow him a visa to the United States last year after the State Department refused him a visa in 2006 due to allegations he was involved in trafficking prostitutes.

Arrangements were being made for a traditional Cambodian funeral for the police chief, Khieu Sopheak said.
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Cambodia vows economic growth at 7%

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday he was committed to maintaining annual economic growth of seven percent, after warnings that the country's red-hot economy would soon slow.

Hun Sen, addressing crowds at Independence Day celebrations, vowed to maintain high GDP growth despite the global financial slowdown, and said the government was committed to reducing poverty by more than one percent per year.

"The government are well aware that the strategic plans are highly ambitious amid the global economic crisis," Hun Sen said at Phnom Penh's Royal Palace.

"But we depend on our experience, our achievements and determination, and we are very positive that the country will accomplish its visions."

The International Monetary Fund recently said that Cambodia's economy is expected to flounder next year as the world crisis deepens.

The country has enjoyed double-digit growth over the past few years, but that will likely ease to 6.5 percent this year and 4.8 percent in 2009 as the crisis deepens, IMF official David Cowen said on Friday. After being written off as a failed state after the devastating 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime and several decades of civil war, Cambodia has struggled back in recent years to become an improving economic success story.

But despite recent growth, under-employment - where someone's work earns only a meagre return - remains high in Cambodia, while about 35 percent of the country's 14 million people live on less than US$0.50 a day.
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