Spouse(s) Srey Toch Chamnan Years active 1991–present Name Kith Meng | Net worth US$0.6 billion Religion Buddhism | |
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Similar People Hun Sen, Meng Keo Pichenda, Cham Prasidh, Hun Manet, Sorn Seavmey Children 4 Known for Businessman Nationality Cambodian | ||
Kith Meng (Khmer: គិត ម៉េង;Chinese：陈丰明 born September 1, 1968) is a Cambodian businessman. He is the Chairman of The Royal Group which counts among its many holdings 45% of ANZ Royal Bank, the mobile phone operator Mobitel and 45% of Toll Royal Railways. Meng also owns a majority stake in Cambodia's leading television and telecommunications networks, Cambodian Broadcasting Corporation and CamGSM. Meng is known for his preferences for entering Cambodian companies into joint ventures including international companies.
Contents
- Neak oknha kith meng is optimistic with the implementation of anti corruption law
- Early years
- Returning from Australia to Cambodia
- Politics
- References
Neak oknha kith meng is optimistic with the implementation of anti corruption law
Early years
Kith Meng is the youngest of three sons of Chinese Cambodian businessman Kith Peng Ike. Kith Meng led a comfortable life in his hometown in Kandal Province until 1975 when the advent of the Khmer Rouge regime caused major social upheaval. Kith's family were among those targeted by the Khmer Rouge because of their wealth, ethnicity and socio-economic status. The entire family was sent to a labour camp where, upon arrival, Meng and his two brothers were separated from their parents who later died of starvation. During the confusion resulting from the Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea, Meng escaped with his older brother to Phnom Penh, from which they then fled for the refugee camps in Thailand. In Thailand, Meng later related, “They put us in a pig farm...we slept with the pigs...we no longer existed; we had no state, nothing." In 1980, Meng and Thieng were found by a family member in a Thai refugee camp and both brothers immigrated to Australia, where they worked and attended school in the nation's capital, Canberra.
Returning from Australia to Cambodia
In 1991 Meng and Thieng returned to Cambodia, where he and his older brother Sophan Kith began selling furniture and office supplies to the UN and operated a Canon copiers franchise before establishing The Royal Group. In 2008, Meng unseated Sok Kong as President of Cambodia's Chamber Of Commerce. He was elected by his fellow Chamber members unopposed for another three-year term in 2011 and again in 2014.
Politics
Commentators have compared Meng to other well-known Asian tycoons including Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and Thailand's Thaksin Shinawatra. However, Meng has downplayed suggestions he may one day stand for the Prime Ministership, saying, "leave politics to the politicians". Still, Meng often accompanies Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen abroad to help promote Cambodia's economic interests and is a strong supporter of Hun Sen. Meng carries the honorary title of "Neak Oknha", a title bestowed by the Royal Family on those who make contributions of $100,000 or more.
Meng's business practices and close ties to a government widely seen as authoritarian and corrupt have led to controversy. In June 2011, WikiLeaks released a US diplomatic cable that characterized Meng as a “relatively young and ruthless gangster.” He has faced significant criticism for his involvement in contentious land deals and rights issues, with allegations suggesting he exploited political connections to forcibly clear residents and national monuments from land acquired under dubious circumstances for development projects. Additionally, Meng and his business enterprises have been implicated in several environmental controversies in Cambodia, most prominently illegal logging in protected areas of the northeast (including Virachey National Park) displacing indigenous villages and destroying rural villages and fishing grounds for hydroelectric projects without compensation or proper environmental assessment reports.