Cambodian aid worker threatens to counter-sue Angelina Jolie

Nov 1, 2006, 11:06 GMT

Angelina Jolie. © Glenn Harris / Photorazzi

Phnom Penh - A Cambodian aid worker facing possible legal action for allegedly embezzling funds from actress Angelina Jolie's charities claimed Wednesday he was innocent and that she had been duped by rivals trying to undermine him.

Mounth Sarath, the director of Cambodian Vision in Development (CVD), said that if Jolie continued to withold funds he claimed were owed to him by the Oscar-winning philanthropist, he would lodge a counter-lawsuit against her.

The row erupted after Jolie terminated a funding agreement with CVD and set up a new, independent Cambodian organisation to administer a forest conservation project to be implemented in areas of the nation's remote north-west.

Her advisors have alleged that hundreds of thousands of dollars remain unaccounted for from when CVD managed her projects, and have threatened legal action through the Cambodian courts to recoup them.

'I have received a letter from Angelina Jolie saying she planned to sue me,' Sarath confirmed by telephone.

'Now I am thinking of a plan to sue her back because the project was budgeted for 1.5 million dollars for 2003 to 2008 but so far I have only received 200,000 dollars. From 2003 to now I should have received more than one million.'

Sarath claimed that at least one rival organization had met with Jolie before CVD was cut out of the funding and he accused jealous competitors for funding of falsely leading her to believe he was corrupt and lacked the capacity to fulfill his duties when he was actually managing and delegating funds and work to others.

Sarath said he held no grudge against Jolie personally, but that he still wanted the balance of funding he felt was owed to his organization.

'How can they say I am corrupt?' Sarath said. 'They think I have no capacity, but my specialty is management. What I was doing was subcontracting work to others.'

He claimed he has been unable to honour those subcontracts since funding was transfered to the 31-year-old actress's new conservation group, the Maddox Jolie Project, named after her 5-year-old son Maddox, whom she adopted from Cambodia in 2002.

The executive director of the Maddox Jolie project, Stephan Bognar, was in meetings Tuesday and unavailable for comment. However he was quoted in Tuesday's Cambodia Daily as saying that Sarath had failed to return six motorcycles and a Toyota Landcruiser since CVD's funding was frozen.

Jolie's advisors have also alleged they have a paper trail indicating funds disappeared while the project was being managed by CVD.

But despite the public slanging match and threats of legal action from both sides, Sarath said Tuesday he had still not given up hope of working with Jolie again.

'I appeal to the lawyers and Angelina Jolie, please think about this. I still want to implement the project. Please give me the funds as promised,' he said.

Jolie, who has been awarded honorary Cambodian citizenship for her extensive charitable work there and owns property in the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Samlot, has pledged to provide up to 1.3 million dollars over five years for the conservation program.

The ambitious project was given the green light by the Cambodia government in 2003. Jolie fell in love with Cambodia while filming at Angkor Wat for the 2001 movie, Lara Croft - Tomb Raider.