Amid hugs and tears, Australian missionary Martin Chan has been bailed on his third attempt in a Phnom Penh court on Friday amid a bitter legal dispute over the construction of a school.
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"I'm relieved and feeling very good, I just want to go home with my wife," the 49-year-old told AAP outside the court.
"Prison has been difficult but the guards were very good to me because they know my story."
Chan immediately hugged his wife and was taken back to Kandal Provincial Prison, where he shared a cell with up to 95 other inmates for the last three months, to sign-off on paperwork required for his release.
The court earlier heard how Chan had worked as a volunteer with a Korean, Jung Young-Kim, at His International Services, a Christian charity which contracted a local company PHV Construction to build a school for 1,000 bilingual students.
The multi-million-dollar project was scrapped in 2016 amid a bitter dispute which went to the National Commercial Arbitration Centre where Chan and his charity were cleared of any wrongdoing.
But PHV then alleged fraudulent actions by Chan and Young-Kim, saying they had "heavily damaged" the company.
He was arrested in November while boarding a flight to Hong Kong. Young-Kim has since left Cambodia for Korea.
His case has won regional attention, with an international petition garnering more than 13,000 signatures, and the sympathy of Cambodians online who appreciated his charitable work.
"The prosecutors were very negative," Chan's wife Deborah Kim, a Sydney trained optometrist, told AAP outside the court.
"Nevertheless I must say I am relieved to have him back. God is good."
Chan had earlier told the court he feared being held indefinitely behind bars in Cambodia.
A court date for the fraud allegations has not been set.
Australian Associated Press