Books 1 through 12 in this year’s Royal Gazette contain 16 more oknha recognitions — including three upgrades from plain oknha to the more prestigious neak oknha.

The documents, included in Royal Gazette books released by the Council of Ministers between June 26 and July 19, are all dated from the last two months of 2022, despite being in the 2023 edition.

Among the 16 individuals granted oknha titles, three people were promoted from oknha to neak oknha: fertilizer businessman Phe Hok Chhuon, his wife Ing Sisron, and developer Lanh Pheara.

Phe Hok Chhuon is one of 13 vice presidents in the Cambodian Oknha Association, and is involved in agriculture via his Ye Tak Group and Ye Tak Fertilizer Company. The association’s website says he also invests in hotels in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

His wife, Ing Sisron, has received 6.5 hectares of state land in Phnom Penh’s Chak Angre Krom, according to Open Development Mekong.

Lanh Pheara, meanwhile, has received 13 hectares of land on Phnom Penh’s controversial Boeng Tamok lake, which is being filled with sand for developers while authorities evict lakeside residents. In 2019, he was involved in a land dispute with 77 families in Bit Traing commune in Preah Sihanouk’s Prey Nob district. He is director of Green Cambodian Property Investments and Ny Ra Ouyang Mining, according to Commerce Ministry records.

Lanh Pheara also has ties to the prime minister’s sister Hun Sengny. Sengny is a former director of Ny Ra Ouyang Mining, which is chaired by Lanh Pheara. The Cambodia Daily has also referred to Pheara as Sengny’s husband.

The Oknha Association has said that as of June 2023, the country has 1,299 oknha, a title bestowed to people who make large donations to the state.

Note: As of publication, Kamnotra has only indexed the Royal Gazette books mentioned in Khmer.