Special Report: Red Cross Donations from Scammers, Tycoons
Still, the CRC remains a member of the International Federation of Red Cross societies
The raison d'être of the Cambodian Red Cross is an open secret. Headed by Prime Minister Hun Manet’s mother, Bun Rany, the CRC has operated for decades as both a patronage network and an extension of the Cambodian People’s Party itself. The CRC has made this abundantly clear over the years: In 2013, amid mass opposition demonstrations, Bun Rany told victims of a flood that “there is no other party coming to help you here…there is only the CPP because all civil servants are CPP.”
Committee meetings for the organization — which is part of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies — could double as cocktail parties for Cambodia’s elite, with attendees such as the U.S.-sanctioned Cambodian tycoon Ly Yong Phat, agriculture tycoon Mong Reththy, deputy National Bank governor Ouk Maly, and first lady Pich Chanmony, who heads the CRC’s Phnom Penh office. The charity’s vice president is Choeung Sopheap, the notorious tycoon behind the Pheapimex company who was among those in Hun Sen’s inner circle reported to hold Cypriot citizenship in 2019.
But the CRC’s role in political patronage is never more obvious than during the months of April and May. For weeks surrounding Annual World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day, the CRC posts a steady stream of donation certificates on Facebook and local media, showcasing tycoons big and small, advisors new and old; government departments, foreign mining and investment companies, casinos and cyberscammers, all looking to get a piece of the CPP pie.
Kouprey has documented close to 800 donations from news stories published on Fresh News and the CRC’s Facebook page. This is not reflective of all donations made this year, but it paints a vivid picture of who is expected to make donations — and perhaps more importantly, who wants to be seen as a donor.
The organization has received more than $10 million so far this year, according to Kouprey research.
The biggest donors include:
The Cambodian Oknha Association, headed by Ly Yong Phat, made the largest donation of $1.7 million through 118 of its members (who also made separate, individual donations).
Leng Navatra, notorious for clearing the Phnom Tamao forest among other land controversies, made the largest donation of $1.4 million.
Neak Oknha Kith Sula, who became COO of Royal Group last year at the age of 19 and is the son of tycoon Kith Meng, donated $1,099,999.
Chip Mong Group, one of the country’s most powerful conglomerates — and whose commercial and housing development in Boeung Tumpun lake threatens lives and wetlands — gave $1 million.
Prince Group CEO Chen Zhi gave $500,000, deepening the pool of more than $2 million he donated between 2020 and 2024. RFA previously reported human trafficking and forced scamming at Golden Fortune Science and Technology Park, a Prince-built compound. Prince has denied all allegations.
Logging oknha Try Pheap, who was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2019 and has been linked to large-scale illegal logging, mining and cyberscamming in his MDS Thmor Da SEZ, donated his routine annual $300,000.
Tycoon Kok An, senator and owner of the alleged scam center called the Crown complex, gave $50,000.
Donors with links to alleged scam compounds include:
Aik Paung, a Myanmar-born naturalized citizen whose Sihanoukville hotel has been identified in multiple reports as a forced scamming compound, gave $50,000, while one of his hotels, Xihu, gave $10,000 under its company name.
The CEO of Yong Yuan Bavet Casino and Bavet Moc Bai, where rescues have been reported since 2022, gave $20,000.
Li Kuong, CEO of the company that owns alleged scam compound Huang Le Casino, donated $10,000.
KB or Kaibo Hotel — one of the earliest and most infamous compounds that journalists first covered in 2020 — gave $5,000. The U.K. government sanctioned KB in 2023.
White Sand Group, which multiple reports have identified as operating human trafficking hubs, gave $10,000, the same amount as last year. White Sand Group itself has been dissolved from Cambodian business records, but other White Sand-affiliated companies remain active.
Lixin Group, whose chairman is the prime minister’s cousin Hun To, gave $5,000. Hun To is a director of Huione Pay, a key enabler in the crypto scam ecosystem that the U.S. designated “as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern and proposes to sever its access to the U.S. financial system” in May.
Beyond alleged scammers, the CRC remains an important above-board method of circulating money to the ruling party. This is good for executives and companies who get a public shout-out (and potentially a tax write-off) rather than paying a bribe directly: As a businessman told RFA, “this donation is actually much more comfortable than something that’s behind closed doors, like the envelope under the table … You get a certificate of appreciation [that] this was an official donation from your company to the Red Cross.”
Casinos — some of which are involved in scams or online gambling — are another source of funds. This year, casinos including Holiday Palace, Kampong Dewa, Power Long Casino, Jin Bei 3, Triumph International, Atlantic Entertainment City, New Venetian, Siha Treasure, Venus Casino and Golden Galaxy, among others, donated anywhere between $500 to $50,000 to the CRC.
And finally, government officials and departments are not exempt from the donation game, either. In 2025, that’s included Telecommunication Minister Chea Vandeth, who was the most enthusiastic government employee with a donation of $100,000; secretaries of state for the ministries of Information, Interior, and Education, who each gave $1,000; five current or former National Assembly members; five court judges or officials; two senators; four deputy prime ministers; nine local Phnom Penh officials and six police or military police officials — including Military Police chief Sao Sokha, who gave $25,000. For reference, ministers make between $1,200 and $1,400 monthly, while deputy prime ministers make $1,900.
People have raised alarms over the CRC for years. In 2016, Global Witness urged the International Committee of Red Cross and Crescent societies to expel the Cambodian chapter for being a “microcosm” of Hun Sen’s pay-to-play network. Earlier this year, RFA tracked more than $7 million in donations linked to alleged scam networks. An Al-Jazeera documentary featuring Lim Kimya, a former opposition lawmaker who was gunned down in Bangkok in January, shows him challenging Hun Sen in parliament about the CRC’s modus operandi before his death.
“If the victims are not the supporters of the Cambodian People’s Party, they definitely do not receive aid from the Red Cross,” Kimya says in a clip featured in the video.
Still, the CRC remains a member of the International Federation of Red Cross societies and is an active presence around the country, handing out bags of rice and fish sauce to people affected by flooding or riverbank collapses, participating in trash cleanups and visiting orphans, and liaising with other Red Cross societies.
In this way, the organization fits neatly into the Hun family’s approach to the last four decades of rule: Give people something to be grateful for — rice, peace — in exchange for their thumbprints, and give the international community enough promises to ignore whatever gold-plated grift is going on underneath the surface, or in fact, in plain sight.
Note: We hope you enjoyed this feature on CRC donations, the first of a series of reported stories we hope to publish in the coming months. The story took several weeks of data collection and a herd of Koupreys to verify and draft.
While we will continue to publish the weekly newsletter, we also want to provide readers with reported pieces that are not only informative but (hopefully) enjoyable to read.
Please let us know what you think about this piece and any other stories you would like to see us cover at contact.kouprey@gmail.com.
Also, if you haven’t read this week’s newsletter, here it is: Behind the Thai-Cambodia border dispute.
Excellent journalism, and very ballsy! Facts and figures can be "controversial", so it's great to see them covered. Thanks to everyone who worked on this piece!