A 49-year-old man with the honourific Oknha was arrested on April 24 for using an illegal licence plate on his car.
The arrest was made after the Ministry of Public Works and Transport referred the case to the National Police for legal action as the ministry does not issue this type of licence plate and considers it to be illegal.
Russey Keo district police detained the oknha, Pen Lim, along with his Toyota crossover bearing the plate "Kampuchea, HE Okhna Pen Lim" with an attached Cambodian People's Party logo.
"The man also admitted his mistake and removed the licence plate. He signed a letter promising not to repeat the offence and publicly apologised for using the plate. He also made a video apologising for using inappropriate words on social media,” authorities said.
"Due to high blood pressure, death on one side of the family and taking psychotropic drugs, and after education, making a contract and apologising, the police allowed him to return home," said the National Police’s website.
In the video, Pen Lim said: "Because I was angry with my subordinate, who used to live with me but then went to work in Thailand. He posted my licence plate to the ministry … so, I would like to deeply apologise for being so angry. It was because my mental illness is worsening.
"As for the licence plate, I have removed it and from today I will stop using it," he said.
The Post could not reach the Russey Keo police chief for comment.
The ministry's secretary of state Kong Vimean told The Post that the licence plate was for seeking attention.
"Using such license plates is detrimental to a state institution; the ministry does not have a policy to officially use such licence plates. Their use is illegal," he said.
"Secondly, the CPP does not allow anyone to use the party's logo for private or personal gain, such as this case," he said.
According to Vimean, the police had previously provided Lim with education and guidance in 2020 for the same infringement, but recently he used the same licence plate again.
“In March 2020, this case was reported to the Phnom Penh municipal police to resolve the problem at that time. Suddenly, he uses it again. Therefore, people wrote a complaint to the ministry, and we sent this case to the relevant authorities and resolved it immediately,” he added.
At the same time, he called on individuals who buy cars as gifts for pagoda chiefs to register the licence plate correctly to avoid driving the car illegally.
"People who buy a car for monks must register the car properly and make the license plate legal before handing it over to the chief monk as he may not know how to do it. Just registering the car in the pagoda’s name is not in accordance with the law,” he added.
