- Joined
- Mar 22, 2015
- Location
- Untied States of America
Cambodia on Wednesday closed a prominent American NGO and ordered its foreign staff to leave the country, the latest salvo by Prime Minister Hun Sen against perceived critics before a general election next year.
The order comes a day after the strongman premier threatened the Cambodia Daily, one of the country's few remaining critical newspapers, with closure over an alleged unpaid tax bill of $6.3 million, calling them "thieves".
In a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said foreign employees of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) have seven days to leave after the group allegedly failed to formally register or pay correct taxes.
"Authorities are geared up to take the same measures against any foreign association or non-government organisation that fails to abide" by Cambodia's laws, the statement added.
In recent weeks, a string of foreign-funded organisations including the NDI have been named in Cambodia's pro-government press or by officials as facing tax or regulatory probes.
In Washington, the State Department expressed deep concern over the "the deterioration in Cambodia's democratic climate in recent weeks."
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