Name Teng Bunma | ||
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Teng Bunma ថេង ប៊ុនម៉ា, also written as Teng Boonma, Theng Boonma, and Theng Bunma (1941 – 17 June 2016) was one of the wealthiest businessmen in Cambodia, a country whose wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small group of closely connected politicians, military officials and businessmen. He was of Chinese-Khmer descent.
Teng Bunma was one of the first Cambodian 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's Cambodian company, in partnership with foreign investors, owns the Caesar international casino in Pailin, a mining town in western Cambodia. Khmer Rouge functionary Ieng Sary is also one of the casino's owners.
Controversies
Thailand issued an arrest warrant against Teng Bunma in June 1998 on fraud charges. 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.
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 complaining that he was frustrated with the airline's service. "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.". In the second incident he brandished a gun inside an airplane and demanded the crew delay takeoff until his late friends arrived.