Acting under a government decision, Ca Mau earmarked some VND30 billion (US$1.75 million) between March and December last year to subsidize fishermen operating out of Song Doc on the coast of Tran Van Thoi District.

But fishermen of the busiest seaport in the province didn’t receive all the money.

The government decision was made when the price of oil soared and made it too costly for sailors to put out to sea. Owners of vessels that service the fishing industry also qualified.

Song Doc People’s Council member Vo Ky says only 60 or so boats in the town’s Hamlet 6 qualified, yet subsidies for more than 300 boats were paid out. Many of these were small or damaged vessels that did not meet the criteria.

In one case, a man called Le Van Nhot received VND20 million ($1,170) for a small, decrepit craft of little use to anyone.

Some that made it onto the list of 1,200 recipients did not even own a vessel, while others owned boats that had nothing to do with fishing.

A prime example is Vo Kim Cuong, who received VND40 million for a boat that she used to ferry students and cargo.

Another is Huynh Tan Hung, who received VND20 million for a vessel used to collect scraps for resell.

Pham Van Hai, Nguyen Van Men, and Tran Cong Tai received the same amount each yet not one of the three owned a fishing boat.

Then there was Tran Thi Dam, who rented a boat from Ho Van Quy and quickly registered it to qualify for a VND20 million fuel subsidy.

As there were several places to lodge the subsidy applications, Quy lodged his at one then let Dam take the boat to another place to get an extra VND3 million.

Tran Thi Kinh did the same to get two subsidies for one vessel.

The names of the offenders were supplied by disgruntled locals to the district’s former deputy police chief, Phan Van Ton, who says middlemen were involved in many cases and skimmed a lot of the money.

One such broker was Duong Van Bay, who faked documents so that Ho Van Qui, whose boat did not qualify, could get a subsidy of VND20 million. In return, Qui paid Bay VND17 million as the latter’s commission.

As Thanh Nien found out, six people made money by acting as brokers, including Song Doc natives Mai Van Khoi and Tran Hoang Sy.

They even ripped off qualified boat owners who didn’t have the necessary documents to back up their subsidy applications.

These documents included boat registration, fishing license and boat insurance forms.

Furthermore, the owners had to produce evidence that their vessels were used for fishing for more than six months a year.

Boat owner Phan Van Dau says he had been at sea for days and didn’t know anything about the subsidy until Tran Hoang Sy stopped by to tell him that the deadline for applying was only three days away.

Sy offered to help with the documentation in return for a substantial slice of the money.

“When I was handed VND20 million at the district treasury office, I felt pained knowing that Sy was already waiting outside to take VND12 million,” Dau said.

Many boat owners were in the same situation as Dau but say they were grateful to receive anything.

As they knew little about paperwork and were reluctant to go to a state office, they put everything into the hands of middlemen.

“I gave the broker my ID card and sat at home waiting,” says boat owner Nguyen Ba Con.

It was rumored that some brokers had voluntarily returned VND40 million to some of the boat owners, however.

Nguyen Van Chien, chairman of the Song Doc People’s Committee, says the town and district police are investigating the brokering and the mishandling of the money.

“If it turns out exactly like the locals claim, the punishment will be severe,” says Chien.

Ca Mau is not the only place rife with scam artists.

Late last year, fishermen of Binh Dinh Province reported that they had paid brokers up to VND5 million for lodging their fuel subsidy applications.

But their biggest complaint was about their fuel subsidy being cut to offset their fishing license fees, which had actually been canceled by the government in 2006 after the boat owners reported huge losses from every fishing trip.

Reported by Tran Thanh Phong - Phuong Chau