PHNOM PENH: Cambodia on Friday slammed "unjust" US sanctions against a tycoon and advisor to former leader Hun Sen for alleged abuses related to human trafficking in online scam centres.
The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control on Thursday announced the sanctions against Cambodian ruling party senator and tycoon Ly Yong Phat, a close ally of Hun Sen.
Several of Ly Yong Phat's business entities were also sanctioned for their alleged role in serious human rights abuses against workers subjected to forced labour in online investment scam operations.
The action was made "to hold accountable those involved in human trafficking," the Treasury's acting under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence said in a statement.
The move was also aimed at "disrupting their ability to operate investment fraud schemes that target countless unsuspecting individuals, including Americans," it said.
Traffickers in the companies had forced victims to work up to 15 hours a day and, in some cases had re-sold victims to other scam operations or subjected them to sex trafficking, the statement said.
In 2022, Ly Yong Phat was appointed personal adviser to Hun Sen, who officially stepped down last year and handed power to his son Hun Manet after ruling Cambodia for nearly four decades.
Hun Sen remains a powerful figure and later became senate president, taking over a key ceremonial role that allows him to act as acting head of state when the king is overseas.
Cambodia's foreign ministry on Friday expressed "deep regret over the unjust decision" to sanction Ly Yong Phat and his businesses.
"The move, based on unconfirmed reports of forced labour linked to online investment scams, is politically motivated and runs counter to the spirit of reinforcing our bilateral cooperation and mutual trust," the ministry said in a statement.
Rights activists have long accused Ly Yong Phat's businesses of violating human rights and destroying natural resources.
Last year the United Nations warned that hundreds of thousands of people are being coerced in Southeast Asia by criminal gangs into carrying out online scams, often under the threat of torture. — AFP