Jolie, officials discuss conservation project

Jolie, officials discussconservation project
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Angelina Jolie has made an unannounced visit to Cambodia, a country where she is funding a nature conservation project.
The 31-year-old actress briefly visited officials in Pailin, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold in northwestern Cambodia, said Keut Sothea, a deputy governor for the Pailin municipality.
He said Jolie had a brief discussion about a forest conservation project near Pailin with Ieng Vuth, another municipality deputy governor and the son of former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary.
Kong Duong, head of the Pailin information office, said Jolie and her party arrived on two helicopters.
"They came very briefly before flying out. They seemed not to have much time for us," he said Wednesday, declining to elaborate.
It wasn't clear when Jolie arrived in Cambodia or who had accompanied her. She has been filming a movie in India in recent weeks.
Jolie, who adopted her 5-year-old son Maddox from Cambodia, has promised up to 1.3 million over five years for a forest conservation program that was approved by the Cambodian government in 2003.
Stephan Bognar, executive director of the Maddox Jolie Project, couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Calls to his phone went unanswered.
Jolie has been involved in a dispute with Mounh Sarath, director of Cambodian Vision in Development, her former Cambodian associate in the conservation project.
Her philanthropic and political adviser, Trevor Neilson, told The Associated Press in New York last month that "hundreds of thousands of dollars" Jolie had provided for the conservation effort were missing.
Mounh Sarath, who has denied the allegation, said Wednesday he knew about Jolie's visit. Mounh Sarath said he wanted to talk to Jolie and could account for all the money he had received from her.
Scenes for Jolie's 2001 movie, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," were filmed at Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple.
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