Mon, 8 February 2016 ppp
Lay Samean
Funcinpec party president Prince Norodom Ranariddh talks to supporters during a party meeting in Phnom Penh last year. Pha Lina |
Hundreds
of senior Funcinpec officials are jumping ship to join ex-deputy
president Nhek Bun Chhay’s new Khmer National United Party (KNUP) and
many plan to take their Funcinpec party offices with them, Bun Chhay has
claimed, to the remaining Funcinpec leadership’s outrage.
So
far Funcinpec has only expelled 13 defectors from their party
membership, but Bun Chhay said yesterday that “300 senior and thousands
of ordinary members” had pledged to join the KNUP, created last
Wednesday.
Many
of those senior members are the legal owners of buildings that house
Funcinpec offices, which they do not plan to leave to their former
party, Bun Chhay said.
Funcinpec
executive secretary-general Say Hak took steps to prevent that outcome
on Saturday with a letter calling on the party’s regional leadership to
ensure their offices are guarded. Pheap Phearch, one of Hak’s aides,
said Funcinpec would file complaints with authorities if KNUP members
set up in former Funcinpec offices.
Should
it come to that, it will not be the first time Bun Chhay has been
threatened with legal action over alleged misuse of Funcinpec real
estate. In 2011 he was accused of taking out a $2 million mortgage on
the party’s national headquarters in Phnom Penh without proper
authorisation.
Funcinpec currently has no seats in parliament.
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