he's urging all sides to deescalate the situation. egypt's government has been accused of exploiting state of emergency laws to crack down on oppositions a report by human rights watch found the laws were abused before and after the march presidential election it accuses egyptian police and security forces of i'm just the arresting journalists activists and critics of president of the fattah el-sisi. well than a dozen migrant mothers and children stranded on a ship in the mediterranean have now been allowed into italy italy had blocked so that entry until other european union states also agreed to take in some of the four hundred fifty people who were found on board two vessels one a one eighth he has no passport yet he's politically active in two countries i was the only one who got elected on the power of peaceful transition and when because the short term expired in our part of the world some people think you are stupid or crazy if you do that mikhail saakashvili former president of georgia and ex governor of the odessa region in ukraine talks to al-jazeera.

ranked as the most corrupt self east asian country cambodia is about of an election . but with the main opposition party banned from participating it's being widely viewed 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 when used 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. the phone call for cool moment. came 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 want. to comment. 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 in nine months before the election the party was outlawed 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 two with its i compliment them because they are opposite the law he is evidence of twenty thirteen video of the formal opposition leader cam succumb. to. suss it out for over. washington d.c.

. but by. now that they are. told me that my debt is. so here. and do as a government if the politics in cambodia and. its or all of the shit of the law and came without. picks ross is now leading a company known for its 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. not know we're going to. let people walk out and i. think sad 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 but for now i just. maybe mitch being. cambodia is a failing democracy we are 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 no tea party. and actually this is. a non competitive election.

the one and only party that not only pinoy 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. but what i mean how much of america. could you be. 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 phnom penh cafe one of the country's most feelings critics of the ruling party he's widely believed to have been a victim of a political assassination a lot of people tried to convince me to walk 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 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 newspapers 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. your excellence mary ann jolley from our sara the man who's overseen the tax reform is on the ball the director general of the taxation department is 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 leave 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 ordered to they never complained in this ng why only cambodia the. but a search of the cambodian company registry revealed kongs family appears to own 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 eight 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 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 it's not true it has 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 chairwoman 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 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 nec 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 ranch ment's have died 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 use 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 or reflect to the new owners are you wouldn't still allow yourself to be listed as they are now because you're carrying 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 companies. the company behind the recent property purchases is panna ridge p.t.y. ltd in twenty eleven the bowl 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 or a strong 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 thought nothing to do with the in the cell. companies of zen zach believes the stray is corporate data base is accurate but he is the sole beneficiary of his company is the sole beneficial honor of this company and for the company to keep going someone's got to be paying a regular. were 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. 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 aware of the legal system i told the guy don't involve anything with me at all because i don't do so my name and i never. get the interest out of that so. i thing your information is wrong so you are not involved in any business is

making even though a strain records show you are in so their false this as it is the cambodia company registry is false about your family's company exactly 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 account you know because somebody can do some money to do that so even though your affidavit signed affidavit i believe witnessed by these strange an embassy clearly states that you transferred one point two million

dollars into the a car when he was account when was it going to thirteen how did you get those visions because it's freely available in australia 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 bells as a potential risk for money laundering top activities or proceeds of crime top activity what concerns me my so that is how. authority same to beat turning a blind eye to these which are happening cully on key part of mobile ins large cambodian community she doesn't know of a bowl coom but says other senior members of government and their families have

made melbourne a hotbed of illicit activity. laundering the drug trafficking put her right at the grief. that happened glaringly obvious. and i think that in the trainer said. until recently she worked as an adviser to the government alongside the prime minister's son and heir apparent one man named. but says she stopped when she became disillusioned with the flagrant corruption of officials the main figures and combine poll tax at the moment has connection to australia the richest man in cambodia is also in. 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 in 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'd you get that money from and then if you just answer as family money. yeah they don't follow it up. and in history there are some very well connected family members. prime minister who sends 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 rats of places that we diets we don't say much about it because i think people a bit 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 or to launder your purse it's across as market a challenge for law enforcement. kellyann 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 rice concerns well they australian government i've priced incense 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 a good friendship with the cambodian government what that allowing them to do is as . heavy as 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 the prominence of belgium both seen chanderpaul resentment is watching out for potential customers who noodle restaurant. only just a year ago when she was on the hustings as an opposition party's candidate in the nationwide come here elections how to get a oh my god that was a good idea that i can't i mean then and then why don't 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 two million at the gate and. get a tub of pot high pay and none can manage that could occur to me and i'm going to get a woman mendelson i think that they slide ninety. and. result no relies on a restaurant to survive having rejected pressure to do things to the government members that pan out of work or nine times and at. a doesn't get not by but then you get that on paper. the poor young. woman i don't know by any. and that wasn't the end of the pressure had a heart. oh no pay that doubt. yet but it might or might make it doubt. you are near told us about the micro our mobile cooking class bake

a pillow tea. party now only what john want of the within lady and not a tip but resist refuses to be scared all silenced him for the uk no doubt they know they have it in with him and then you know about hanging on with joe but i work at the new camp that are laying it on. 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 to bring democracy to cambodia the country is slipping further and further away from its. their integrity is worth millions of dollars to the nepalese their living god.

investigates the fight to reclaim nepal's stolen idol. i mean this is different. whether someone is going for some of this very rich. i think it's how you approach an official and after that is a certain way of doing it you can't just inject a story and fly out. building a new life on an entirely beach living off the sea and. a dream shed my so many but so few make it a reality. a family business led by a remarkable woman with a flair for cooking and disaster. yeah i didn't catch it on al-jazeera. when.

hello i'm a fiend anything to help with the top stories here it out the kremlin says it hopes a summit between donald trump of vladimir putin will lead to quote some kind of step away from the current crisis in relations the u.s. and russian presidents a geezer me to helsinki in a few hours from now but mr trump has been downplaying hopes i don't expect anything i frankly don't expect i don't with very low expectations i think that getting along with russia is a good thing but it's possible we won't i think were greatly hampered by this whole witch hunt that's going on in the united states the russian which i.