Asked about allegedly forging the names of factory workers while assisting them in forming a union, prominent union leader Pav Sina yesterday told the Phnom Penh Municipal Court the claim was frivolous.

Hat factory Southland has accused the Collective Union of Movement of Workers leader of forgery and misinformation for misspelling the names of two workers in a list that was used to make a union bid.

“I had no intention of spreading misinformation,” Sina told the Post outside court, which banned reporters from the courtroom. “Just for wrongly spelling Pech Savat to Pech Sovat, they are charging me?”

He said the spellings may have been a little different, but they sounded the same in Khmer and the workers were in fact employed by the company.

He also took exception to both the company’s complaint and an April court summons that misspelled his name as “Bav Sina”, adding that if he was charged, he would counter with his own suit for misspelling his name.

Court deputy prosecutor Kham Sophary could not be reached yesterday, however court spokesman Ly Sophanna said the court was proceeding with the case and would summons the company next.

Pech Savat, the factory worker whose name was misspelled, said he would go to court to provide testimony if summonsed, calling the case an attempt to thwart the workers’ desire to form a union.