A tale of alleged bribery in Kampot earned Post journalist Phak Seangly first place yesterday as Transparency International Cambodia awarded its first-ever prizes for Outstanding Reporting on Corruption in Cambodia.

The awards, attended by Information Minister Khieu Kantharith and Anti-Corruption Unit boss Om Yentieng, saw Post reporters capture three of the five awards handed out.

Seangly’s May 27 feature told the tale of three women’s battle to retrieve some $18,000 they say a court official had taken in a failed bid to grant freedom for their husbands – suspects in the murder of an alleged sorcerer.

Other Post awards went to May Titthara for a June 6 exploration of the lingering effects of abandoned sugar plantations in Oddar Meanchey and an April 22 story for the Post’s youth insert publication LIFT, which looked at young Cambodians’ experience with bribery.

Nods also went to Radio France International and local outlet Thmey Thmey.

Speaking at the event at the Cambodiana hotel, TI Cambodia chairman Ok Serei Sopheak praised the media’s role in breaking “the corruption chain” by acting as a “watchdog . . . through independent . . . investigative journalism”.