is not represent us really videos emerged on social media of students or nicaragua or pleading for their lives as military gunfire can be heard in the background. that spirit world class on facebook the field of pictures quite quickly came to an end you can see that the students to uncover and pleading to loved ones before those images somebody was pulling the plug on the opposition activists called for three days of anti-government protests on thursday the iraqi government has held an emergency meeting after demonstrations that began in the oil rich city of basra and spread to other areas including the capital baghdad as anger over high unemployment and a lack of basic services those are you developing stories so far today from al-jazeera up next one to one east i will see you very soon. al jazeera is a very important force of information for many people around the world when all the

cameras are gone i'm still here go into areas that nobody else is going talk to people that nobody else is talking to and bringing that story to the forefront. ranked as the most corrupt self east asian country cambodia is about out of an election. but with the main opposition party banned from participating it's being widely seen as a sham. not that you'll read that in the local press the country's head of taxation has been accused of forcing the closure of independent media but what has he got to hide i don't want to talk about. i'm steve on this episode one on one east investigates cambodia's brutal crackdown in the lead up to the national election.

it's monday morning in the cambodian people's party headquarters in the capital phnom penh having ruled the country for more than three decades the party's propaganda machine is well oiled and. on. him on board. spokesman saka son is presenting his program true voices for people who live on facebook and on seventeen government on radio stations across the country. are. who are who won't. solve it. except those with an opposing opinion.

in the past five years his support for the main opposition party surged the world's longest serving prime minister would send notes to brutal campaign against it. opposition politicians have been beaten more than a dozen jailed the party's leader held indefinitely on treason charges and then the final blow nine months before the election the party was out mood for conspiring with the united states to overthrow the government. picks ross he's been accused of acting for the ruling party when he filed a complaint against the opposition that lidge to withdraw its i compliment them because they act opposite the law is evidence of twenty thirteen video of the formal opposition leader cam succumb. to.

suss it out for overseas because you like. to see. the bite. now. not only that that is. so here. and do as a government if the politics in cambodia and the county it's are all of us eat up the law and came with our. picks ross is now leading the campaign for his own cambodian youth party one of the twenty mostly new parties contesting the july twenty ninth election. there. but once again he finds himself ending off accusations he and his party are puppets of zen. our

good job is that i don't know mitt. romney we did. no no. no people will. be excited sad. and he insists it's his own money behind his party. i sell my then i sell my house i sell my car just before i have good cars and comfortable cars by paulo i just. maybe mitch being. cambodia is a failing democracy where a one party state. is the director of one of cambodia's oldest and most respected human rights organizations. if you look closely at some of these parties the other night. except from one tiny one they're

all aligned in some ways and they all popped up recently so this is not a party. and lecture this is. a non competitive election. the one and only party that not only people always says is independent is this one the grassroots democratic party set up in twenty fifteen today it's candidates a meeting on the outskirts of phnom penh to talk election strategy on what i mean how much of america. could you speak of. saying coma is a party founder and its prime ministerial candidate. and not that general but hang your. the portrait of his

party's co-founder is an eerie reminder of just how treacherous cambodian politics can be. in july twenty sixth seen ken lay was shot dead in a phenomenon cafe one of the country's most feelings critiques of the ruling party he's widely believed to have been a victim of a political assassination a lot of people. continue to want to because there was no no i know what i'm doing so. for me i have no choice i have to continue with this mission all my life like the people they hope to represent most of the candidates have little money and with the campaign budget coming out of their pockets funds are limited to saying coleman is encouraging party members to be creative like recording policy messages for facebook so we have thousands of people are doing like that. so it's like grassroots media yes when there is no independent media and you have to find out if

you have to find a way out or what. it's not only the main political opposition party that's been destroyed in the lead up to the election the independent media has been decimated to the alleged new weapon taxation. last september after twenty four years in operation one of the country's most fearless news papers the cambodia day was forced to shut down when it received a tax bill all six point three million dollars its final headline pulls no punches. the cambodian dailies for many douglas steele and owner publisher deborah christmas steal a current leaving in tokyo. back in cambodia they both face criminal charges for

tax evasion carrying a prison sentence of up to six years they chose essentially a number that was unpayable and were very hardline about that yeah steel vehemently denies evading tax but concedes the company may have owed the department some money the whole country is coming into the tax system most businesses are still not register you're going from a zero percent compliance to a normal system and we were moving along in that process we got singled out because they didn't like us. you're excellent mary ann jolley from. the man who's overseen the tax reform he is the bull the director general of the taxation department. a member of the ruling party's elite central committee today we meet him in his palatial office on the top floor of the

department we have done a tremendous reform. on the revenue because the government realize that. for the country to move forward for the development of the country we need to live in you to expand the bull kong refutes accusations his department has targeted independent media i think. that statement is not true is for but some people would say that it's an amazing coincidence that four of the only independent news organizations in this country received very large tax bills it's not true we got less or independent newspaper or not independent newspaper they are subject to the rule of law here that's my role here. the united states government isn't convinced in january it withdrew funding from the tax department

citing concerns about anti democratic behavior somebody the lee when they see the tax bill they jump. to talk to the from the ticks. to the embassy to international community by this committee in the government that the government target them but actually we are not targeting anybody what about ten thousand of other companies in which we are auditing they never complained in this ng why only cambodia the. but a search of the cambodian company registry reveals robo kongs family appears to only a very large business and may have some questions to answer. one of the biggest petroleum companies in the country it was incorporated in two thousand and night but according to the records here it didn't register with the tax department until march twenty seventeen the same time as the cambodia daily it says on the company

register that it only registered for taxation in twenty seventeen. other move while you're talking about i'm just trying to understand where the paps your own family company has main orders to to determine tax owed prior to when it registered with the department in two thousand and seven tank no two it's been a long time ago so that date on the official cambodia company registry is wrong. maybe they put in the system wrong. when i mention the company registry also shows that two directors and a chair woman all relatives live at his home address it seems those records are wrong to talk about to the wrong person. i think i have nothing related to

this company but they share a home address with you know i think a long time ago. but i got nothing to do with that but that those details are only company cambodian company registry that's now online which is being really put online yeah but i think it's wrong it's wrong. so your family has no association with company anymore so long time i think. maybe they use my address before but they never been and i don't know when they so rise. if that isn't actually their place of residence it would rise real questions about what kind of a range mints have dynamite with regard to this company what is his interest in the company. in sa my profiting from the benefits of the company and why that is not transparent might be completely legitimate but it is rising red flags that are worthy of questioning and investigation. is one of the stray years leading

anti money laundering experts question he finds it extraordinary that the bo kongs family wouldn't have updated the registry if the company had been sold normally there would be an obligation to update the registry to act there are afflicted. you wouldn't allow yourself to be listed as they are now because you're caring liabilities for the operations of that company. the bocconi has financial questions to answer in a straight. in cambodia his official salary is less than one thousand dollars a month and he has no other no and sources of income but here in the southeastern city of melbourne he has millions of dollars worth of property and has established numerous company. the company behind recent property purchases is panna ridge p.t.y. ltd said in twenty eleven the bow kong is the sole director under strain in corporate sole directors of companies must live in the country. this is the

address kong is given as his to the astray in securities and investments commission but having lived in cambodia since nine hundred ninety three and worked as a senior government official he clearly doesn't reside here. it's of great concern here that we've got a senior foreign government official giving an address that does not appear to be a place of residence that would be a breach restoring corporations law if that is not his his place of residence it's a huge red flag i understand that you have several million dollars worth of property in australia how they were humiliated let's look at all those information from australian records publicly available records i understand that you have a company called pan or read p.t.y. ltd it appears you have broken corporate law in australia by registering a business and giving an astray an address when you actually live in cambodia and

the head of the tax department here because. that. business since i before i start working cambodia a long time ago but i was actually registered. not that long ago. i've got the company extract now but i transferred to the the other person at the maybe the record is not up there so you don't really know anything about that company panna read why limited us is close a long long time ago yeah i got nothing to do with the in the sale. companies of zen zach believes this trail is corporate data base is accurate he is the sole beneficiary of this company is the sole beneficial honor of this company and for the company to keep going someone's going to be paying a regular. we're destruction feta caper we're just out here in australia so it's

stretches belief to think that he doesn't like his company. the bowl clones a strain in business associates raise even more red flags from two thousand and six he set up two investment companies and several trusts with an historian cambodian couple who was soon after convicted of defrauding the straight in tax department of more than one point eight million dollars and suspected of laundering in hiding nearly fifteen million dollars the bowl cone denies knowing about the conviction or being in business with them but you had businesses with him from around about two thousand and six and he was convicted and it made the newspapers in a strange year at the beginning of two thousand and seven i was not availed of the legal system i told the guy involved in the thing with me or because i don't do so

my name and i never. get the interest out of that so. i think your information is wrong so you're not involved in any business is with him even though a stray in records show you are i'm not and so they're false this as is the cambodia company registry yes false about your family's company separately but twenty thirteen a strain in court documents reveal otherwise he did even more business with a couple big business transferring one point two million australian dollars into an investment trust they'd set up. i can remember that transaction. the money's a lot of money not every day you try and but i cannot i cannot remember that i. transferred to. the that column you know because somebody can do some and then

to do so even though your affidavit signed affidavit i believe witnessed by the australian embassy clearly states that you transferred one point two million dollars into the a car while he was account when was it. how did you get those visions because it's freely available in a strike we have access to court records how have you managed to accumulate your wealth given that you have no businesses in cambodia under your name i don't want to talk about right so this is a very large sum of money for a senior government official which appears quite disproportionate about officials official level of salary they sort of set off huge alarm bell as a potential risk for money laundering top activities all proceeds of crime top activity what concerns me my so that is how. authorities seem to be turning a blind eye to these which are happening cully on key part of melbourne's launch

cambodian community she doesn't know of a boat but says other senior members of government and their families have made no been a hotbed of illicit activity the money laundering the drug trafficking well that's where we're at the grief. that happened and glaringly obvious. and i think that in the training. until recently she worked as an adviser to the hussein government alongside the prime minister's son and heir apparent one man named. but says she stopped when she became disillusioned with the flame. real corruption of officials the main figures and combine politics at the moment has connection to australia the richest man in cambodia is also a struggle and. so there's a lot of interest in ensuring that they can vote in australian community remains

for the current government because there's a lot there's a lot of connections that it's as important in a lot of informal connections what do you mean by informal activities and for varying as an illegal kind of black market community. college dances the smuggling of luxury goods in cash as well as drugs is rife among the ruling party elite and that government and military officials regularly transfer large sums of money to family or associates in a story with few questions asked maybe to buy a house or a car and the bank would just call up and say where do you get that money from and then if you just answer it's family money. yeah they don't follow it up and in history there are some very well connected family members. prime minister who listens nephew who is married to a stranger in cambodian woman and is

a regular visitor to melbourne. while in town he drives around in these lamborghini with personalised number plates a stray you know authorities reportedly suspect him of being involved in trafficking drugs. is that what his song is not riots. where the money is coming from. than our the pieces that we diets we don't say much about it because i think people have it scared and concerned. toad doesn't have any property in his name but his wife has a multi-million dollar portfolio her most recent known property purchase is this land bought for more than eight hundred thousand dollars with no mortgage a luxury home is now being built. this motorbike importing business is owned by

another member of hoon since family his son in law of the chief who is head of the cambodian police security unit on a straight in company documents he also falsely claims to live in melbourne. if you are engaged in criminal activity having a legitimate business that was during importing is a great white or allow you to use your purse and to launder your purse it's across market a challenge for law enforcement. cully on key says she and others in her community have made complaints about the criminal activities of cambodia's ruling elite in a story i have rights concerns well they australian government i have price consents filthy australian investor. and the responses the sign like it's not our part and this is not wildly i had to do so we had to make good friendship with the can by the government what that allowing them to do is as. have

these informal illicit activities happen so. someone endorsing corruption. straining government refutes cali and keys claims it condones illicit activity. back in cambodia with the election imminent the government crackdown continues. in the north with prominence about them both seen chanderpaul resentment is watching out for potential customers who noodle restaurant. just a year ago when she was on the hustings as an opposition party's candidate in the nationwide come here elections oh no oh my god that was you know what i did not get i mean then and then like i don't think. you triumphant at the polls she defeated the ruling party's coming chief who'd been in the position for

fifteen years. but within just a few months she was stripped of her victory but. i'm going i'm going to try and pair going up and go to it i mean back want all people to put up a ten million at the gate and. get a tub a pot high pay none can manage that could occur to me and i'm going to get a woman men do for me i think that they slide ninety you know and. result no relies on a restraint to survive having rejected pressure to do things to the government members that. were caught nine times and that. but then you get that. the poor done. by me. and that wasn't the the pressure i had

a whole. oh no pay that doubt. and yet both my to my doubt and feel knew i told us about the micro our mobile cooking class bake a. pie. john what to do with the. idea. but resist refuses to be scared or silenced him for the walk now and watch out they make their own within and then back hanging on the job but i'm with a kind of camp that battling it on down to. the. it's a risky statement in today's cambodia where anyone calling for a boycott is punished as a traitor. twenty five years since the paris peace agreement momus to bring democracy to come. the country is slipping further and further away from which.

two songs they are in secret is worth millions of dollars to the nepalese they are living god. one east investigates the fight to reclaim nepal's stolen idol. on out is zero the nature of music as it breaks although thousands of women have reported rape and other sexual atrocities in south sudan sewer rats are going to fish and say the figure is likely much higher with detailed coverage nearly fifty schools took part in the drive each one responsible had a whole life in a different hideout schools of bias clothing from around the world the search will focus on a still very new here but the players are very confident they won't be able fully because it made people want to buy on the international studies. he has no passport yet he's politically active in two countries i was the only one who had the power had peaceful transition and when term expired in our part of the world some people think you are stupid and crazy if you do that mikhail saakashvili former president

of georgia and next governor of the odessa region in ukraine talks to al jazeera. zero zero zero zero zero. zero zero zero zero zero fearing for their lives the students course in military gunfire during the ongoing protests in nicaragua. m p t w watching al-jazeera live from also coming up there should be no one on one meeting between this president and mr there needs to be other americans in the room the u.s. government the trump putin summit will go ahead despite the indictments of twelve

russians for allegedly hacking the u.s. election in twenty sixteen. i think it spreads in iraq over a lack of jobs and rising costs raising questions of stability after a controversial election. and in sports how the south african kevin anderson outlasted his rival in the longest semi final at wimbledon. a developing story video emerging on social media students in nicaragua pleading for the military gunfire in the background. you know. if you like i don't know maybe. the images were streamed live on facebook. surely students taking cover and leading to loved ones before the feet abruptly eggs opposition activists called for three days of antigovernment protests on thursday two hundred sixty four protesters have been killed since the unrest began in the

middle of april mariana sanchez joins us live now from mariana what's the latest information you have for us.