RFA, VOA under scrutiny amid tax investigations
August 14, 2017
RFA and VOA have been the subject of a battle between the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Commerce in the Cambodian press about registration and taxation amidst a disturbing trend of intimidation of independent media and NGOs who have refused to be curtailed by the Hun Sen regime. In a stunning move, the government levied a $6m tax bill to the independent newspaper, The Cambodia Daily. In response to false claims made by the Ministry of Commerce about RFA in the press, we released this statement to AP and the Phnom Penh Post: “Since RFA was first approached by the Cambodian government on the taxation issue in October 2016, we have complied with all requests. We have seen conflicting information in the local press released by the government about the issues of registration and taxation, for which we are seeking clarification. The sudden unilateral action taken by the Department of Taxation this week does not reflect our cooperation with the process provided to us, and is more in line with the increasing and worrisome pattern of intimidation of RFA and other international broadcasters.” RFA has by words and actions, shown our willingness and intent to comply with applicable laws and regulations – and we will continue to do so.