The Council of Ministers on Friday sent a letter to the Ministry of Land Management calling for ruling CPP lawmaker Lok Hour to resolve a raft of land disputes in Kandal province.

Earlier this month, the ministry announced that Hour would be the first added to a blacklist of developers barred from buying, selling or transferring land while their disputes are unresolved.

The Council of Ministers’ letter reiterated the demand that Hour’s land be frozen and called upon any institutions employing him to take action.

However, National Assembly Secretary-General Leng Penglong said yesterday that parliament was powerless to intervene in a lawmaker’s business affairs without a court order.

Hour yesterday protested that he was only involved in a single land dispute with a land broker.

“If I robbed the land from the villagers, those villagers would not stay calm, they would have killed me already,” Hour said. “Everything has to be fair. Do good deeds and you’ll receive good deeds. Do bad deeds, you’ll receive bad deeds. Rob others’ land, god will put a curse on you.”