Cambodia: Union leaders claim ABA Bank block their overseas money transfers to support unemployed strikers
"Banks Block Overseas Transfers to NagaWorld Union Strikers", 26 January 2023
NagaWorld union members are alleging that ABA Bank blocked three transactions to their accounts from an overseas donor while giving various explanations about negative news of the union in the press or anti-money laundering measures...
Three NagaWorld union members said they were expecting transfers from an overseas sender ... to support protesters without jobs or with babies, but were separately informed by a person saying they were from ABA Bank that the transfers were blocked.
Chhim Sokhorn and Klaing Soben told ... they were expecting $5,050 each to be transferred into their ABA accounts...
... Sokhorn and Soben both said they were separately contacted by an ABA staffer ... who questioned them on what they would do with the $5,050 transfers and raised the union’s ongoing dispute as the reason why the transactions had been blocked.
Sokhorn said an ABA employee named Sroy Mengty first contacted her on messaging application ... and then on two other occasions ...
According to text and audio messages between the two of them on Telegram, Mengty informs Sokhorn ... that the transfers will not be processed because of the “negative news about NagaWorld.” When he asks what the money will be used for, Sokhorn tells him it was to assist unemployed union members and for workers with children.
Mengty further says ...: “The reason is because you don’t have proper documents for the money and have negative news about NagaWorld.”