Cambodia decries US sanctions against one of its top tycoons implicated in forced labor

Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia has decried newly imposed U.S. sanctions on one of its tycoons who has been implicated in forced labor, human trafficking and lucrative online scams. Cambodia’s foreign ministry expressed “deep regret over the unjust decision” to sanction Ly Yong Phat and suggested that the action could hurt bilateral relations. Ly Yong Phat, one of Cambodia’s richest men, is also a Cambodian senator and a leading member of the ruling Cambodian Peoples’ Party of Prime Minister Hun Manet. The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday imposed sanctions on Ly Yong Phat and five of his businesses “for their role in serious human rights abuses related to the treatment of workers subjected to forced labor in online investment scam operations.”