Portions of Leaks Verified By Nine

Nine people have confirmed in interviews the genuine nature of messages of theirs appearing in a trove of leaked correspondence with members of the Hun family, cabinet ministers and wealthy tycoons, lending a level of credence to the at-times damning revelations that is hard to dismiss.

The leaks came in the form of 20 logs of text messages, forwarded to media outlets by former opposition leader Sam Rainsy. The logs included every immediate member of Prime Minister Hun Sen's family - first lady Bun Rany; his sons Hun Manet, Hun Manith and Hun Many; and his daughters Hun Mana and Hun Maly - as well as three of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An's sons.

Also included are Hun Sen's cabinet chief Ho Sothy, Transportation Minister Sun Chanthol, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith and Rainsy himself.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, nine people whose names and correspondence appear in the leaks confirmed over the past two days that they had, in fact, sent the text messages appearing in the logs next to their names and numbers, even going so far as to corroborate the dates and content of the messages.

Additionally, the log purporting to show texts received by Sok An's son and Hun Sen's son-in-law Sok Puthyvuth reflects text messages sent to him by a Post reporter requesting an interview last September.

Content image - Phnom Penh Post

The messages, which appear verbatim in the logs with matching time stamps, are still contained in the reporter's phone (see right).

The logs of messages appear to be computer-generated, and contain the text messages' content and the senders' and recipients' phone numbers, along with the names of the 20 targets of the purported hack. The texts date from September to February, and were sent to Rainsy from the Gmail address of an anonymous sender called 'Angkor Borey' on Wednesday.

However, the data in the logs seem to have been edited, with responses from certain individuals seemingly deleted from two-way conversations.

Many of the logs contain hundreds of texts, some of them mundane chitchat between the targets and others. Some, however, appear to suggest an ethically questionable confluence of politics, business and media interests.

Among the most noteworthy of the texts is a conversation that appears to show the billionaire CEO of Cambodia's largest casino colluding with the publisher of an English-language daily newspaper, as well as Hun Manith, the premier's son and head of military intelligence.

The messages...