Teng Bunma

Teng Bunma (born 19?? in Suphan Buri, Thailand) is one of the wealthiest businessmen in Cambodia,^[1][2] a country whose wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small group of closely connected politicians, military officials and businessmen. He is of Chinese-Khmer descent.^[3]

Biography

Teng Bunma was one of first Thai-Cambodian^[4] businesspeople to invest significantly in Cambodia after the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979. First president of Cambodia's Chamber of Commerce, he also owned the luxury Intercontinental hotel in Phnom Penh and Rasmei Kampuchea, the country's most influential newspaper. His son is a partner with Khmer Rouge functionary Ieng Sary in running the Caesar international casino in Pailin, a mining town in western Cambodia.

Thailand issued an arrest warrant against Teng Bunma in June 1998 because of fraud. Police determinations took place also in Hong Kong: there Bunma had submitted a falsified passport for the registration of its enterprise "to Thai Boon Roong". For years Bunma has been denied entry into the USA, because he appears on that countries list of suspected drug dealers. A 1996 article ("Medellin on the Mekong") in the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review, by United States journalist Nate Thayer, described Teng Bunma as a significant figure in Cambodia's international drug-smuggling trade.^[5]

Teng Bunma has been described as "trigger-happy tycoon" following incidents where he used or brandished hand guns. In the first incident he shot out a $3000 tire of an airplane on the tarmac after perceiving rudeness from airline staff. "I lost my temper and control and had to shoot one of the plane's tires. I wanted to shoot more of them, to make sure that all were flat, but there were a lot of passengers surrounding the plane." (The Cambodia Daily, April 9).^[6] In the second incident he brandished a gun inside an airplane and demanded the crew delay takeoff until his late friends arrived.^[7]

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