Staff at the Techo Sen Regional Polytechnic Institute in Battambang have called on Labour and Vocational Training Minister Heng Sour to remove the institute’s director, Chhim Thoeun, over allegations of corruption involving more than four million dollars.
Employees, civil servants and teachers at the institute told The Cambodia Daily on condition of anonymity that Chhim Thoeun had committed serious irregularities under the government’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development Policy programme, known as C1.
According to the sources, the Ministry of Labour approved more than four million dollars in funding after the institute reported that it had enrolled over ten thousand students in the programme. The initiative began in October 2023 and concluded at the end of 2025.
Under the policy guidelines, the ministry allocated about 1.7 million riel for each student to support their studies. Based on the institute’s reported figure of 10,125 students, the total funding amounted to more than 17 billion riel, or about 4.19 million dollars.
However, staff members say the real number of students was far lower. They claim the institute had no more than 20 classes, with only five to ten students in each class.
They also allege that the names of students who had dropped out remained on official records, creating what they described as “ghost students.” Attendance lists showing 25 to 30 students per class were, they said, fabricated.
Sources further claim that the alleged corruption involved falsified invoices, inflated student numbers and fabricated expenditure reports. Teachers working under the C1 programme were reportedly paid only two dollars per hour. In some cases, students from three or four classes were combined into a single classroom so the institute could reduce the number of teachers it needed to pay.
Staff members also pointed to what they describe as a sudden increase in the director’s wealth since the programme began, after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet announced the launch of the C1 initiative.
They say Chhim Thoeun, whose official monthly salary is about two million riel, now owns three luxury vehicles and large tracts of farmland in Banan district of Battambang province. The land is reportedly surrounded by a fence costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The director is also said to have purchased expensive land in Sangke district and two houses in a residential development near Makro market in Siem Reap city. Homes in the development are estimated to cost at least two hundred thousand dollars each. Sources say he is also building a large villa in his hometown.
According to the same sources, Chhim Thoeun and his family do not operate any other businesses, raising questions about the source of his assets.
The Cambodia Daily said it had not yet been able to reach Chhim Thoeun for comment.
Transparency International reported in its 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, released in February 2025, that Cambodia ranked 158th out of 180 countries worldwide, placing it among the countries most affected by corruption.
