Police remain unwilling to comment on the weekend acid attack against a senior Cambodian People's Party official, who has been sent abroad for treatment after sustaining severe burns to his face.
Ngor Srun, a secretary of state at the Council of Ministers, was doused with acid Sunday morning in Phnom Penh’s Prampi Makara district by two men driving a motorbike, said National Assembly member and CPP colleague Cheam Yeap.
“His whole face was severely injured,” Cheam Yeap said, adding that police had yet to identify the attackers.
“We condemn these acts and appeal to the relevant authorities to find the suspects,” Cheam Yeap said.
Immediately after the attack, Ngor Srun was admitted to Phnom Penh’s Calmette Hospital in serious condition before being transferred out of the country for further treatment, Cheam Yeap told the Post on Monday.
Prampi Makara district police chief Yim Simony said no officials at his district knew about the attack.
“No one reported to me,” Yim Simony said.
No police investigation had been opened due to the absence of a complaint from the victim or members of his family, the police chief said.
“If there is a complaint from the victim, our authorities will start investigating,” he said.
Am Sam Ath, an election monitor for the human rights group Licadho, told the Post Sunday that his organization suspected the attack was politically motivated in the run-up to the July 27 general election, but were finding it difficult to investigate due to a lack of cooperation from both the police and Ngor Srun’s family.
“We have not been allowed to get any information,” Am Sam Ath said, adding that the police have been disturbingly silent over the incident.
“If the attacks involve powerful people, the police never arrest suspects,” he said.
Meanwhile, the chief of the Ministry of Interior’s criminal police, Mok Chito, and spokesman Khieu Sopheak could not be reached for comment.
Phnom Penh police chief Touch Naruth said he was in a meeting and was unavailable to talk about the case.
Witnesses claim a second motorbike carrying two other men was also involved in the incident which took place when Ngor Srun stopped his Lexus SUV at a garage on Kampuchea Krom Boulevard and got out to have the tires checked.
A 28-year-old resident of the area who witnessed the attack, said, "It scared me and everyone else there."
