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Mekong Memo Cambodia Weekly: Business, politics, finance, trade & legal news.

Jul 06, 2026

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Scam Crackdown Fills the Prisons

Cambodian prisons are on track for 85,000 detainees by the end of 2028, and that’s up from about 57,000 today. Almost 5,000 were added so far this year. The scam crackdown is doing most of the work. It’s not a happy place to end up, as each detainee gets one square meter (compare vs a UN standard of three), each officer has to keep an eye on up to 25 prisoners, and more than 300 retired staff have not been replaced. The director-general of prisons went on state TV to warn that conditions like these breed riots, rebellions, and escapes.

Read more: Phnom Penh Post (prisons), Straits Times (repatriation), Asia Sentinel (Huione)

Barbed Wire Won't Wait for the Diplomats

Thai forces put up some new barbed wire on two border segments, one in the Mom Bei area of Preah Vihear Province and another at Chob Ruan in Oddar Meanchey's Trapeang Prasat District. Phnom Penh filed a protest, natch. The Foreign Ministry said it was a "persistent" sovereignty violation and said the acts breach both the MOU 2000 demarcation agreement and the de-escalation commitments both sides signed in December.

Read more: Cambodianess (survey team), Asian News Network (UN conciliation), CamboJA News (displaced residents)

Open Skies, Open Wallet

Cambodia and the United States signed their first bilateral air transport agreement at the State Department in Washington. The deal gives US cargo carriers seventh-freedom rights, meaning they can now fly between the United States and third countries without those routes touching Cambodia at all (although, that flexibility will be more relevant to logistics networks than to any direct passenger service). The signing came shortly after the DFC approved $100 million in financing for Techo International Airport, making the aviation package look like it may be a coordinated commercial play. Bilateral trade was $5.96 billion so far in the first five months of 2026, up about a third year-on-year. American tourist arrivals are down nearly 12 percent over the same period, to 91,020.

Read more: Asian News Network (tourism), The Diplomatic Insight (airport loan), Aviation Week (open skies)

One War Undoes Eighteen Years of Work

Cambodia celebrated the 18th anniversary of Preah Vihear Temple's UNESCO listing with an appeal for international restoration aid. Thai military attacks in July and December 2025 reportedly damaged the ancient complex and forced about 16,000 residents from the heritage area. The culture ministry says it is the worst destruction ever inflicted on the monument, and 18 years of conservation work have been undone.

Read more: Phnom Penh Post (recovery), Khmer Times (aid appeal)

The Highest Court, The Lowest Bar

The Supreme Court upheld activist Koet Saray's four-year sentence for incitement, in a conviction related to his advocacy for villagers in a land dispute with rubber company Seladamex in Preah Vihear province. The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention says his detention is arbitrary, but Phnom Penh seems unbothered. The ruling came two days after Rong Chhun, the former labor leader turned Nation Power Party adviser, petitioned the Justice Ministry for a retrial. The Supreme Court last month upheld Chhun's incitement conviction over public comments about online scam operations and the Vietnam border, set aside his four-year prison term, but kept him under three years of judicial supervision, banned him from politics for five years, and barred him from leaving Phnom Penh. About 20 party members walked him to the ministry. The ministry spokesperson has not yet responded to his petition.

Read more: CamboJA News (Koet Saray), CamboJA News (Rong Chhun)

gray concrete road between green trees under blue sky and white clouds during daytime — Photo by allPhoto Bangkok on Unsplash

NagaWorld Standoff Gets Another Court Date

About 50 members of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld met outside the Phnom Penh casino complex after at least 18 former workers received new court summonses over "intentional damage under aggravating circumstances" connected to a 2021 strike. Cambodia's longest-running labor dispute is now grinding toward its fifth year. Union president Chhim Sithar, who did a two year stretch on an incitement conviction, is asking political parties to take notice ahead of next year's commune and parliamentary elections. About 70 LRSU-affiliated workers are still holding out, rejecting company compensation offers they say are inadequate, and hundreds more who were laid off before the strike remain in limbo. The Labor Ministry, which the union accuses of failing to mediate neutrally, says it has done what it can while the courts do their work.

A Billion Dollars, Five Hundred at a Time

Four months after APD Bank put emergency withdrawal limits in place, customers still cannot withdraw more than $500 a day from their accounts. The bank refuses to confirm if and when that will change. APD held more than $1 billion in customer deposits at the end of 2024. Nearly all of the bank is owned by chairman Wang Dong, who took Cambodian citizenship in 2015 under the name Vong Pech. Cambodia is one of the last ASEAN countries with no depositor insurance scheme, a shortcoming that officials have been jawboning about for more than a decade.

Full Seats but Thin Learning

Cambodia has almost cracked universal primary enrollment, but the kids sitting in the classrooms aren’t learning much. Grade 6 students got about half of the Khmer language questions right and less than half of the math questions on the 2021 National Learning Assessment, according to a World Bank report. The public purse is not even doing all the heavy lifting either. Families currently have to cover roughly three-fifths of total education spending; government spending on education is at 2.2 percent of GDP, and about three-quarters of that goes straight to salaries.

King Returns Home

King Norodom Sihamoni arrived back at Techo International Airport in Phnom Penh after more than four months in Beijing for prostate cancer surgery and recovery. Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk came back with him. Senate President Hun Sen, National Assembly President Khuon Sudary, Prime Minister Hun Manet, and several other senior royals met him on the tarmac. Sihamoni was diagnosed in April, had surgery on April 20, and had been recovering at the royal residence in the Chinese capital since.

ABA Sells the Full Stack

Cambodia's largest commercial bank is now in the insurance business. ABA Bank, which says it has more than 6 million customers, has tied up with Maybank-backed Etiqa General Insurance Cambodia to sell fire, auto, and travel coverage through the ABA Mobile app. Fire cover is at the forefront of the rollout; auto and travel will follow. Policies are issued instantly, claims and support run in-app, and CEO Askhat Azhikhanov is looking into a "fully integrated financial system."

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