Friday, May 22, 2009

Sale of Pol Pot belongings attracts 'ghost' money bid

     PHNOM PENH, May 21 KYODO
Belongings of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot that are up for sale have attracted a single bid of $790,000 in fake money, a local newspaper reported Thursday.
     According to the report in the English-language Phnom Penh Post, Pok Leak Reasey offered to buy the pair of shoes and two cameras with $790,000 in ghost money used in funeral rites in many parts of Asia.
     ''The reason why I've offered the money in ghost notes is because I want to say that all material remaining from the regime is worth nothing,'' Pok Leak Reasey was quoted as saying by the paper.
     Pok Leak Reasey lost eight members of his family during the regime, including his father, grandparents and siblings.
     The seller of the belongings, a former photographer at Tuol Sleng prison, Nhem En, said he was not angry with the offer, but is still offering the belongings with a starting price of $1 million, according to the report.
     As many as 16,000 men, women and children are believed to have been tortured at Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh before being executed.
     The prison's chief, Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, is currently on trial at a U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal, while four other senior former Khmer Rouge leaders will be tried sometime next year.
     Pol Pot died in 1998.
==Kyodo
May 21, 2009