PHNOM PENH, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Sunday charged former deputy prime minister Nhek Bun Chhay with conspiring to manufacture illicit drugs in a decade-old drug case, according to a court's statement.
Bun Chhay was arrested at his home in Phnom Penh and was taken to the Phnom Penh municipal police headquarters on Thursday, with a Phnom Penh Municipal Court warrant accusing him of involving in a major drug bust in Kampong Speu province in 2007.
"The Phnom Penh Municipal Court's prosecutor has decided to charge Nhek Bun Chhay, 59, with conspiring to produce illicit drugs and importing ingredients for drug manufacturing," the court's statement said.
Under the charges, Bun Chhay, who is currently president of the Khmer National United Party (KNUP), could face an imprisonment of between 15 and 30 years if convicted.
In the drug bust at a cow farm in Kampong Speu province in 2007, police confiscated about two tones of "precursor" chemicals and arrested more than 10 people, including Chea Chung, then-advisor to Bun Chhay. Chea Chung was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in jail.
During the raid at the cow farm, police also found a siren car belonging to Bun Chhay when he was a deputy prime minister.
According to the court's statement, the arrest of Bun Chhay came after Chea Chung confessed again last month that Bun Chhay got involved in the illicit drug manufacturing.
Bun Chhay was a former deputy prime minister from 2004 to 2013 when he was a senior member of the royalist Funcinpec Party, which is in alliance with the ruling Cambodian People's Party of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen.
He left Funcinpec Party in February and formed his own party, the KNUP.
In June, the prime minister ousted him from the government adviser role after the government found that he secretly supported the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.
