Did Angelina Jolie knowingly pay $25,000 to a Cambodian mass murderer for a piece of land?
Last updated at 7:08 AM on 25th October 2011
Angelina Jolie has been accused of paying a former member of Cambodia's brutal Khmer Rouge regime $25,000 for a plot of land.
The actress, who is an honourary citizen of the South East Asian country where she runs a charitable foundation, is said to have bought land from one of the three highest-ranking former leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime-all of whom are wanted by the United Nations for crimes against humanity.
Her Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which is named after her son, is based in an area called Samlot which used to be the hotbed of the nation's communist party.
Spokeswoman: Angelina Jolie, 36, has Cambodian citizenship and runs a charitable foundation in the country, where she shot this Louis Vuitton ad
Communists: Ta Tith served under Pol Pot (pictured) during the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime
In a Global Post article, one of Ms Jolie's former employees said that the actress directed him to buy land from one of those leaders, named Ta Tith (who is also known as Yuh Tith).
Tith was a prominent leader of the Khmer Rouge which ruled the country and was responsible for mass genocide and famine in the late 1970s.
Ms Jolie adopted her eldest child, Maddox, from a Cambodian orphanage in 2002 and due to her charity work, she was ! awarded Cambodian citizenship in 2005.
Proud mother: Ms Jolie adopted her son Maddox from Cambodia in 2002
Ms Jolie purchased two plots of land, totalling 225 acres, for more than $25,000 in 2002.
A local government administrator confirmed that the land had been controlled by the Khmer Rouge-controlled Communist party, and that Tith was in need of cash, prompting him to sell it to the famous actress.
'The Prime Minister had given the land in this area to former Democratic Kampuchea [the Communist party run by the Khmer Rouge soldiers and he [Tith] sold the land to her because he badly needed money,' he said by telephone. 'She has title of ownership.'
Ms Jolie's former employee, Mounh Sarath, openly admits that he and Ms Jolie are no longer on good terms, as they have been disputing over contract obligations of more than $1.5million for five years.
Complicated borders: The area in the red box is where her foundation is located
Terror: The bones of some of the over 1.4million people killed during the Khmer Rouge regime are kept at a memorial museum in the capital of Phnom Penh
However he said he is certain that Ms Jolie had at least a vague understanding of Tith's role within the tyrannical organisation when she purchased the land.
'She knows that Yim Tith and everybody are the Khmer Rouge,' Mr Sarath said to The Global Post.
'We talked like we have to, like Mr Tith is a big man there and he's very important person. ... So she knows that,' Mr Sarath continued.
Since the purchase of the land nine years ago, Tith's role in the Khmer Rouge has become more clear.
In 2009, the United Nations charged him with crimes against humanity between 1977 and 1979, linking him closely with 13 specific crimes.
Court documents say that Tith was the commander in charge of an area of Cambodia where nearly 600,000 people died under the Khmer rule.
There was no response from Ms Jolie's publicist when contacted by MailOnline.
Her men: After becoming romantically involved with Brad Pitt, Ms Jolie changed her children's last names- and the name of her foundation- to Jolie-Pitt
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