Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm was recently scooped up by Cambodian authorities in Phenom Penh at the request of the Swedish government. Just yesterday, Cambodia agreed to send him back to Sweden to serve his year-long jail sentence for creating The Pirate Bay. Turns out the Swedes might have paid big time for Cambodia’s cooperation.
TorrentFreak reports that Cambodia and Sweden announced a strengthening of “bilateral ties”. In other words, Sweden will be sending a handsome $US59 million aid package over to Cambodia. (So far the only other source reporting the story is the large Chinese news agency Xinhua.)
Sure, the money is reportedly destined to “democratic development, education and other causes”, but it’s awfully convenient that this aid package was announced just one day after Cambodia agreed it would deport Svartholm so that the matter could be resolved without an extradition battle. [TorrentFreak]