Defence lawyers representing well-known businesswoman Chhin Sokountheary, also known as the “Crocodile Grandma”, requested the Court of Appeal to consider voiding the tycoon’s warrant for arrest yesterday.

Sokountheary was convicted for encroaching on public land and sentenced in absentia to four years and six months in prison last December.

She has been in France since she was charged last September.

In considering yesterday’s request, judge Nguon Im postponed the case.

Sokountheary’s lawyer, Sok Sam Oeun, said a cancellation of the warrant would allow her to return to Cambodia to see her family and further invest.

“According to the facts and laws … if the court is trying her case independently, I dare say my client’s charges will be dropped. But because this case is related to powerful people and their influence, I can’t guess what the appeal court’s decision is yet,” he said.