Philip William, 38, from Edinburgh, has been charged under a 1992 law against rape. If found guilty, he could face a jail term of up to 20 years.

Mr William, who had been working as a schoolteacher in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, for the past two years, is accused of having sex or performing sexual acts with up to seven girls under the age of 15.

It is illegal in Cambodia for men to have sex with girls under the age of 16.

Police said two girls aged 12 and 13 had been living with Mr William, who had allegedly told their parents that he would pay for their upkeep and schooling. They did not give the ages of the other five girls but said some of them were vendors he had met on the street.

'Increasing problem'

Police said the seven had given evidence against Mr William, saying they were forced to perform sexual acts for him and were beaten if they refused.

A Phnom Penh municipal court prosecutor said a preliminary charge had been filed against Mr William, and that investigations are continuing.

Mr William was arrested in the south-western province of Koh Kong last week, apparently trying to leave Cambodia for neighbouring Thailand. He is currently being held at the Interior Ministry.

A senior police official said that sex tourism and child prostitution had become an increasing worry in Cambodia.

"This is a big problem now," General Skadavy Mathly Roun told a news conference. "They used to do this in Bangkok but now they turn to Cambodia because they know our law is poor."

The BBC correspondent in Phnom Penh, Caroline Gluck, says a law against child prostitution and trafficking was put on the statute books in 1996.

However, only a handful of people have ever been charged and sentenced under the legislation.