Briton questioned over wife’s Cambodia drug death

Dec 07, 2012

Bangkok Post

A British solicitor who embalmed his wife’s body soon after she died of a drug overdose in a Phnom Penh hotel has faced some difficult questions at the UK inquest into her death.

Kristy Cadman-Jones died in her sleep in the couple’s hotel room in Cambodia on Jan 9 this year after taking heroin, which she wrongly believed to be cocaine.

The couple had been married for six months when they embarked on a four-week trip to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

“Were you in any way involved with others in any intention to end your wife’s life?” her husband Damian Cadman-Jones, 31, was asked by the coroner, during proceedings at Leicester town hall reported by The Telegraph.

Mr Cadman-Jones denied that he was and also refuted suggestions that he had contacted his wife’s life insurance firm in Zurich on the day of her death.

The inquest also heard that Mr Cadman-Jones had his 27-year-old wife embalmed, something that could dilute drug levels found in the bloodstream and therefore hamper toxicology tests.

In reply to the question: “Why were you so desperate to have your wife’s body embalmed within 48 hours of her death?” Mr Cadman-Jones told the inquest he made the decision so that his wife’s mother could say goodbye to her daughter, after she was returned from Cambodia.

The coroner criticised statements that Mr Cadman-Jones gave to authorities, saying they were inconsistent and contradictory.

Mr Cadman-Jones told the inquest that he and his wife had been offered a drug they believed was cocaine by two travellers they had met in a bar. He said his wife had been an occasional cocaine user.
The coroner recorded an open verdict.

Lawyer to defend imprisoned activist in Vietnam

 Written By: KatherineDowns

Marshall-Wythe School of Law professor Linda Malone will act as pro-bono counsel for Nguyen Quoc Quan. COURTESY PHOTO / WMNEWS

She has served as co-counsel to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Paraguay and as counsel in Supreme Court cases such as Padilla vs. Rumsfeld.  Now, Marshall-Wythe Foundation professor Linda Malone of the Marshall-Wythe School of Law will act as pro-bono counsel for Nguyen Quoc Quan, an American democracy activist who has been detained in Vietnam since April 17, 2012.
Quan, a member of the Vietnamese reform group Viet Tan, was arrested in the Tan Son Nhat International Airport before departure to the United States on charges of organizing terrorist activities.
“Quite clearly, the only thing that he has done is distribute materials and encourage people to advocate for a more democratic government in Vietnam,” Malone said. “I just got the indictment translated into English, and that’s exactly what they say he’s done but it’s characterized as subversion.”
A Vietnamese law that allows for political prisoners to be held without trial for four months, a period which can be renewed three times, deprived Quan of due process and legal counsel until his November hunger strike pressured the Vietnamese government into granting him access to lawyers.  Malone took the case after being approached by the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights.
International relations professor Katherine Rahman sees this deprivation as a strategic point in the case.
“There are international standards for what constitutes due process and those one can make reference to,” Rahman said.  “The right to due process is just a basic human right.”
Malone will advise Quan’s Vietnamese defense lawyers on international law and while in the United States. she will continue to lobby the State Department as well as the Department of Justice to bring up the issue with Vietnamese officials.
“Because this man is an American citizen, the
United States has the right, if not the obligation, to do things in order to try to make sure what’s happening to him is reasonable and fair,” Rahman said.  “However, an international standard — a universal standard—that says you always have these kinds of rights may or may not be something that a state is going to push for even at the best of times.”
Much of Malone’s value lies in her ability to bring visibility to the case, according to government professor Maurits van der Veen.
“Everyone knows that Vietnam still violates human rights — the less people that know about what Vietnam does, the better it is for Vietnam,” van der Veen said. “For this guy’s defense and for international human rights purposes, you want maximum visibility.”
However, Malone is skeptical of the Vietnamese justice system.
“The mere fact that these charges have been filed indicates that it’ll be very difficult for him to have a fair trial,” Malone said.
Malone emphasized the need for students to become involved.
“This is a very clear human rights violation where support on the local, national and international level would be helpful,” Malone said.

Snakebite Doctors Transferred

Two Cambodian doctors found negligent in a boy’s death are moved to new clinics.

RFA

Moeun Mat's grandmother holds a picture of the young victim at the family's home in Banteay Meanchey province, Dec. 6, 2012.

Health officials in northwestern Cambodia have transferred two doctors from a medical clinic after they agreed to pay compensation to the family of a boy who allegedly died from a venomous snakebite under their watch, but a lawyer has called for the two men to face criminal prosecution for their neglect.

Moeun Mat, 8, was brought to the Thmar Pouk District Health Center in Banteay Meanchey province on Nov. 29 after being bitten by a cobra, but according to relatives, he was refused anti-venom treatment by clinic officials who said it was reserved for a youth volunteer group mobilized by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s son.

Clinic director Kim Sam Ol and physician Ing Sopharoth were found negligent in the boy’s death after provincial officials determined through an investigation that anti-venom was available at the facility at the time and said it was “irresponsible” for the center to make such a suggestion.

Provincial health officials on Wednesday formally removed the two doctors from their posts at the Thmar Pouk District Health Center after they agreed to pay 17 million riels (U.S. $4,250) in compensation to Moeun Mat's family in exchange for a pledge not to bring a civil suit against them.

Provincial Health Center Deputy Director Le Chan Sangwat blamed the doctors for Moeun Mat’s death, saying all medical professionals must adhere to the Hippocratic Oath, which dictates that they should practice medicine ethically and honestly.

“Removing them acknowledges their responsibility,” Le Chan Sangwat told RFA’s Khmer Service.

“In the case of snakebites, we have enough anti-venom for treatment. The Ministry of Health supplies us with enough for treating anyone, regardless of their status,” he said.

“It was a mistake to act without considering this. [Their removal] is a punishment.”

During the removal ceremony on Wednesday, Kim Sam Ol acknowledged his mistake and cautioned other doctors not to do the same.

“Please doctors, do your job and don’t make a mistake like mine in the future,” he said.

But the two men have since been transferred to other clinics, angering local lawyer Pen Son Samai who said providing compensation to the boy’s family would not protect the two doctors from facing criminal prosecution.

“The provincial prosecutor must investigate this case and send it to court,” he said.

“We have seen that they want to resolve the case through compensation, but this is a criminal offense.”

Provincial prosecutor Phan Vannaroth told RFA’s Khmer Service that he is currently traveling and is unfamiliar with the details of the case, but pledged to send staff to investigate.

“Even though the victim didn’t file a complaint, the court will investigate,” he said.

Appeal to doctors

Moeun Mat’s grandmother said she was saddened to hear that the clinic had anti-venom but refused to provide treatment for the snakebite.

“I would like to appeal to other doctors not to make this kind of mistake again,” she said.

“People rely on doctors for their lives. If doctors are careless about their jobs, who else can we rely on?”

On Monday, Ser Channy, the victim’s mother, said doctors at the clinic had “discriminated” against her son by refusing to treat him, saying that the facility’s anti-venom was reserved for the youth group mobilized by Hun Sen’s son Hun Manit and tasked with measuring land for concessions in the area.

She said that despite offering to pay for the medicine, the doctors had refused to inject the anti-venom, saying it was “illegal.”

In August, reports surfaced in Cambodia about discriminatory practices against the poor in hospitals around the country, particularly in rural areas.

Minister of Health Mam Bunheng said at the time that since 2010 the ministry has worked to teach doctors not to differentiate between the rich and the poor—a practice which had led to some doctors refusing to admit pregnant women and other patients who could not cover medical fees.

Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Cambodian DPM: dam 'not collapse'

Xinhua

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Keat Chhon said Thursday that the incident at the Atay hydropower dam was just a "small technical problem" and the company has high responsibilities for this issue.

"It is not the collapse of the dam," he said at the National Assembly's session following the claim of opposition party lawmaker Yim Sovann that "the Atay dam collapsed due to substandard (factors)."

"The project is still good, but it will be a bit delay in supplying electricity," Keat Chhon said. "We are sorry for the injuries to workers during the incident."

Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Suy Sem said that the incident was "very small" because it was just the leakage in a concrete tunnel of the dam.

"It is not the collapse of the dam, there is no remarkable damage, the turbines are all in good conditions, the dam is also in good shape," he told Xinhua over the phone on Wednesday. "The firm just fixes the damaged point, everything is OK."

He said the incident would not discourage the government from supporting Chinese companies in hydropower development.

"We still strongly support the company in continuing the dam construction in order to complete it as soon as possible," he said. "We need electricity; it is a key element for the country's social and economic development."

The incident happened on Dec. 1 at the Atay hydropower dam when a concrete tunnel at the upper part of the dam ruptured, causing water in the reservoir to flood downstream, leaving six workers slightly injured and three others missing.

The injured were immediately sent to hospital and five of them have recovered and left the hospital.

The firm is still searching the three missing men, and construction of the dam is still under way.

Situated on the upper reaches of the Atay River in Pursat province, western Cambodia, the hydropower project covers an area of 4,674 hectares. With a total installed capacity of 120 megawatts, the hydropower station will supply power to the Electricity of Cambodia when it goes into operation.

The 381-million- U.S. dollar project is invested by the China Datang Corporation. Construction started in May 2008 and is expected to complete in November 2013 under a concessional 34-year build-operate-transfer contract with the Cambodian government.

Graft Up in Vietnam, Laos, China

RFA
A report on global graft calls for transparency and accountability.

RFA

Vietnam, Laos, and China all dropped in rank in Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index.

Vietnam, Laos, and China have dropped significantly in a ranking of global graft, while North Korea remains the world’s most corrupt nation, according to a new report released Wednesday.

Vietnam fell to 123rd among 176 nations and territories from 112nd a year ago, the Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International said in its annual Corruption Perceptions Index. The group’s 2011 report ranked a total of 183 countries and territories.

On a second graph, based on perceived levels of public-sector corruption, Vietnam was given a score of 31 on a scale where 0 indicates “highly corrupt” and 100 represents “very clean.” The nation scored a 2.9 on a scale of 0 to 10 in 2011.

Vietnam’s economy is in turmoil amid a spate of corporate scandals and inefficient management of major government-run firms which have sparked investor concerns.

Growing public frustration over the economy has led the government to renew an anti-corruption drive leading to the arrests of a number of banking executives and heads of failed state-owned companies. However, many see the arrests as a result of political infighting.

Laos slipped to 160th this year from 154th in 2011 and received a score of 21 in 2012 from 2.2 a year ago, the report said.

The poorest Southeast Asian state has moved to step up development, but rights groups complain of government repossession of land from the people and other human rights problems, including rampant official corruption, in the one-party communist state.

China dropped to 80th down from 75th a year ago and scored 39. The country scored 3.6 a year ago.

China implemented a once-in-a-decade leadership change last month, with incoming Chinese president Xi Jinping warning that the ruling Chinese Communist Party must beat graft or lose power.

Official privilege, rampant graft, and the impunity with which well-connected people break the law have caused widespread public fury in recent years, which is particularly evident on China's popular microblogging services.

North Korea tied with Somalia and Afghanistan for dead last on the list, according to the report—equal to its position in 2011, when Transparency International ranked the nation for the first time.

“Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia once again cling to the bottom rung of the index,” the report said.

“In these countries the lack of accountable leadership and effective public institutions underscore the need to take a much stronger stance against corruption.”

North Korea scored 8 out of 100—the lowest of all rated countries—on the 2012 report. The pariah nation received 1 out of 10 a year ago.

Slight improvements

The index uses data from a combination of surveys and assessments of graft that look at factors such as bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds, and effectiveness of anti-corruption efforts.

Meanwhile, Burma improved slightly to 172nd from 180th last year and scored a 15 compared to a 1.5 in the 2011 report.

The new ranking brought the nation, undergoing rapid democratic change under a new quasi-civilian government, to third from the worst in corruption from second from the worst a year ago. Sudan was ranked second from the worst in 2012.

As part of Burma’s reform process, the country’s press is now free of censorship and stories about government corruption appear weekly, singling out the individuals responsible. In addition, the new government is drafting new legislation to crack down on corruption.

Cambodia also increased in rank to 157th from 164th and scored 22 compared to 2.1 last year.

Cambodia’s Anti-Corruption Unit, a government body started in 2010 to fight graft, launched a new initiative in May to eliminate bribes solicited by local commune councilors for performing public services.

At the time, Transparency International called the campaign “a vital step” in the government’s efforts to fight corruption, although the organization still considers Cambodia one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Governments and agencies around the world have frequently called on Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian leadership to more seriously tackle corruption.

Regional corruption

Transparency International said that of the nations it ranked in the Asia Pacific region, 68 percent scored below 50 on its scale of 0 to 100.

It said that many of the countries in Asia where citizens challenged their leaders to stop corruption “have seen their positions in the index stagnate or worsen.”

Cobus de Swardt, managing director of Transparency International, urged wealthier nations to set an example for developing countries.

“The world’s leading economies should lead by example, making sure that their institutions are fully transparent and their leaders are held accountable,” he said.

“This is crucial since their institutions play a significant role in preventing corruption from flourishing globally.”

Huguette Labelle, the chair of Transparency International, said efforts at combating graft must be better implemented into national legislation, even in the world’s more developed nations.

“Governments need to integrate anti-corruption actions into all public decision-making,” she said.

“Priorities include better rules on lobbying and political financing, making public spending and contracting more transparent and making public bodies more accountable to people.”

Reported by Joshua Lipes.

Corruption: It's Easier Than You Think

VoA - News 

" When I lived in Cambodia, I got into a lot of fights. I'd protest the fruit seller who was overcharging me for mangoes because I was American. I'd wave my hands at the police officer who fined me for driving on the correct side of the road. I'd get angry with doctors at the "free" clinic for charging poor patients for drugs.

My Cambodian boyfriend usually just watched and shook his head.

But when we went to the Justice Ministry to get papers for his U.S. visa application, he told me not to fight. Not this time. Just go with it, he said, as he handed money to the clerk to get his papers the same day.
It made me wonder, why do people accept corruption that's exploiting them? Why defend a government that runs off bribes or nepotism?

"We rationalize the status quo because it reassures us that things are under control and we're going to be able to have a predictable life," says Justin Friesen, a doctoral candidate at Ontario's University of Waterloo and co-author of "Why Do People Defend Unjust, Inept and Corrupt Systems," published in Current Directions in Psychological Science.

"People have psychological needs to feel good about themselves. Nobody likes to be criticized. Nobody likes their group to be criticized," he says. "Because of this, people will often rationalize and defend the systems they belong to and the status quo they belong to."

In Cambodia, that might mean paying an extra "service charge" to power company officials to make sure your lights stay on. In the United States, it could mean staying silent when your coworkers are overcharging clients or lying on their timesheets to earn money for hours they didn't work.

Basically, people want to keep things calm. And if you're not protesting the problem, the likelihood that you're a part of it grows.

According to Lamar Pierce, associate professor at the Washington University in St. Louis, two major factors contribute to corruption: Economic motivation and self-serving biases.

"If taking bribes are a function of how much you can feed your kid, then often that is the overwhelming motivator," Pierce says of the first factor.

But the second factor, to which we all fall prey, is more complex.

"If people are able to convince themselves quite irrationally that what they're doing is really okay, it's not their fault, it's not hurting anyone, that they're not going to get caught, that's where you get situations like the subprime crisis," he says, referring to the U.S. financial crisis in which profit-hungry lenders approved mortgage loans to people who couldn't afford them.

It's even easier for people to ignore the desire to be good if they cheat "by a little bit" rather than to the maximum extent possible, according to Francesca Gino, an associate professor at Harvard Business School and the author of Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan.

"By seeing other people around us cheat, especially when those people are our co-workers or peers, we are more likely to cheat ourselves," she adds, describing dishonesty as "contagious."

So where do we draw the line? Pierce says it starts with asking a simple question. "How would you feel talking to your mom about this at dinner?"

"The very simple metrics that people intuitively tend to do are very helpful as a first-line defense," Pierce says.

The second-line defense? Ask yourself about the consequences of your actions.
"Is there an ethical component to this? Who is this going to harm? Who is this going to benefit? Is it going to violate any rules?"

It's a five to 10-second check, Pierce says, that can mean the difference between right and wrong.

Everybody has their own perception of what is corruption and what is an acceptable "service charge" for goods and services delivered.


What do you think? Take our short polls to see how your perceptions measure up to our other readers.

Is it corrupt to give the police a tip to help you avoid a major fine?

Vietnam vets sue military in Conn. over discharges blamed on post-traumatic stress disorder

By Associated Press

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The military has failed to correct the wrongful discharges of thousands of Vietnam veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, an advocacy group says in a federal lawsuit.

Vietnam Veterans of America on Monday joined a proposed class action lawsuit in Hartford against the Army, Navy and Air Force. The lawsuit, filed last year by a veteran, says the Vietnam veterans suffered PTSD before it was recognized and were discharged under other-than-honorable conditions that made them ineligible for disability compensation and other benefits.

The lawsuit says the military has refused to review or upgrade the discharge statuses of thousands of Vietnam War-era veterans with service-related PTSD.

“People did not understand PTSD during the Vietnam era,” said John Rowan, national president of Vietnam Veterans of America. “Now that we do, these service members must not be denied the recognition and benefits they long ago earned.”

The U.S. attorney’s office, which is representing the military in the lawsuit, said it’s reviewing the matter and will respond in court. A Department of Defense spokeswoman said the agency is committed to addressing concerns related to PTSD and has taken numerous steps, including conducting PTSD assessments of service members at military treatment facilities.

The initial lawsuit was filed by Vietnam veteran John Shepherd, of New Haven, who says he was diagnosed with PTSD in 2004 but has been repeatedly denied a discharge upgrade.

Shepherd and the VVA, which has about 65,000 members, are represented by Yale Law School students who work at a veterans legal services clinic. The students say since 2003 the Army has approved fewer than 2 percent of applications by Vietnam veterans claiming PTSD to upgrade discharges, compared to 46 percent for all discharge upgrade applications in recent years.

Some of the veterans denied had at least one medal or had a PTSD diagnosis from the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the students, who analyzed the Army data.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he sympathizes with the veterans’ concerns and has been working with the Yale Law Clinic, the Department of Defense and state and federal veterans services agencies on a more equitable process to resolve them.

“The fact that Post-Traumatic Stress was not understood during the Vietnam War era should not preclude a reconsideration now of individual cases,” Blumenthal said in a statement.

The lawsuit estimates about 85,000 of the more than 250,000 Vietnam veterans discharged under other-than-honorable conditions have PTSD. The discharges were based on poor conduct such as unauthorized absence without leave, shirking, using drugs or lashing out at comrades or superior officers, conduct the lawsuit says was a symptom of underlying undiagnosed PTSD.

PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that can develop in a person who experiences or witnesses a traumatic event. Symptoms include flashbacks or nightmares of the traumatic event.

The veterans have experienced homelessness, prolonged unemployment and troubled relationships, the lawsuit says.

“Isolated and impoverished, they have struggled to cope not only with their war wounds but also with the shame of a bad discharge,” it says.

The Army awarded Shepherd with a Bronze Star after his unit came under intense fire and he entered an enemy bunker and threw a grenade that killed several enemy soldiers, according to the lawsuit.

Shepherd developed symptoms of PTSD after blowing up the enemy bunker and later witnessing the gruesome deaths of several comrades, according to his lawsuit. Shepherd began to act strangely and was found wandering around a base in a confused state. He eventually reached a breaking point and refused to go back out into the field, the lawsuit says.

He was charged with failure to obey an order and was discharged.

Shepherd’s application for a discharge upgrade was denied again in June. The Army said he failed to present convincing evidence that his misconduct 43 years ago was the result of PTSD or that his discharge was improper, but he’s appealing the decision.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.