Phnom Penh (FN), March 20 – Fresh News CEO Lim Chea Vutha held a special interview with Ratha Visal, former Radio Free Asia’s journalist, at around 10 A.M on Tuesday, regarding Chun Chanbuth asking for assistance to escape from the murder of the CIA.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, on Friday, said in a meeting with approximately a thousand Cambodian people in Sydney that Chun Chanbuth used to request assistance from Lieutenant Gen. Mao Sophan and General Hun Manet to protect his life from being killed by CIA like Kem Ley, and that Chanbuth used to be a spy for the premier.
FN CEO: Did Chun Chanbuth really requested assistance from General Mao, Commander of Brigade 70 to protect his safety while in Cambodia on March 22, 2017?
Ratha Visal: Chun Chunbuth really did. He requested the assistance through me, as I was the one who arranged the plan. I met with General Mao at 7p.m that night at the brigade. I used my own car with three other men from the brigade heading to Phnom Penh International Airport to pick up Chun Chanbuth. But plan changed. Chanbuth was hurriedly picked up by two American men and one Khmer.
FN CEO: Can you clarify if the two American men are CIA?
Ratha Visal: I am not sure. Chanbuth told me that they are American. Maybe they are CIA.
FN CEO: What did you discuss with Chanbuth at Sunway Hotel? For how long?
Ratha Visal: We decided not to discuss the important issue here for privacy reason. I spent around 10-15 minutes to ask how he was doing.
FN CEO: Can you clarify why Chun Chanbuth need a protection while in Cambodia? Why do American wanted to harm him?
Ratha Visal: In the past, Chun Chanbuth used to inform me many times that he wanted to quit RFA, as the radio did not serve the nation’s politics and that some opposition politicians used him as a political tool. Chanbuth told me that he wanted to serve the nation. Chanbuth also revealed that prior to coming to Cambodia, he was forced by the RFA boss to sign a document that his family members has no rights to file complaint to the court in case he passed away. Chanbuth worried that he was going to be killed like Kem Ley, so he wrote a letter while on the plane.
FN CEO: As a former staff at RFA, what do you think about the case that one is likely to be killed when one wanted to quit RFA?
Ratha Visal: Everything is politics. RFA was formed for politics. I have been here for a decade; I know that for over 20 years, RFA did not legally register which was against the law. RFA was not created to support democracy. RFA published news to incite people’s anger against the government, to use people’s force to get the vote, and if not winning, initiated color revolution. For instance, they accused the government of murdering Kem Ley. If Chun Chanbuth was killed, they will accuse the government again.
FN CEO: Do you think that Chanbuth knows a lot of their secrets so they want to kill him?
Ratha Visal: I think it’s for politics. If Chun Chanbuth was killed, people will be angry again.
FN CEO: Did you attend a lunch with General Mao and Chun Chanbuth.
Ratha Visal: I was the one who arranged a lunch on March 23, a day after Chanbuth arrived. I picked him up and he was escorted by a Khmer who picked him up at the airport. The Americans were not there back then.
=FRESH NEWS
Lexus 470, plate 2S-0789, picked up Chun Chanbuth from Phnom Penh International Airport on March 22, 2017
A 12-minute interview with Ratha Visal, former RFA staff, in Phnom Penh
