Huynh Ngoc Si, former head of the project, and his deputy Le Qua were also brought to Hanoi Wednesday where they would be detained pending further investigation, said Major-General Trieu Van Dat, chief of the investigative agency under the Ministry of Public Security.
The police also searched the houses and offices of Si and Qua in HCMC Wednesday.
Si, 56, and Qua, 67, oversaw the East-West Highway Project in which Tokyo-based Pacific Consultants International (PCI) had been selected as the consultant contractor.
The Supreme People’s Procuracy (SPP), Vietnam’s highest prosecution agency, said Wednesday it had ratified the “abuse of power” charges against both the former officials.
The duo have been charged with wrongdoing in leasing and spending rent collected for a house in HCMC’s District 3 leased to PCI from August 2001 to November 2002, an SPP official said Wednesday.
The rent for the house, owned by the project management, was then US$5,000 per month.
The rent of VND1.2 billion received from PCI was distributed among various project employees, with Qua and Si getting VND403 million ($24,000) and VND52.15 million respectively. The two officials have since repaid this money in full, the project management has said.
Article 281 of Vietnam’s Criminal Code stipulates those found guilty of “abuse of power” can be punished with a minimum suspension of three years or a maximum prison sentence of 15 years, depending on the seriousness of the crime.
Asked why Si had not been charged with bribery as alleged by the Japanese media, the SPP official said further investigations would ascertain if he had committed the crime.
In November 2008, The Japanese daily Yomiuri newspaper reported four PCI executives had admitted to bribing Si with $2.6 million between 2002 and 2006 in exchange for helping the company win the consulting contract on the project, funded with Japanese official development assistance (ODA).
The scandal had led Tokyo to temporarily suspend aid loans to Vietnam last December.
However, prosecutors could only establish a criminal case for bribes totaling $820,000 that were handed over to Si in 2003 and 2006.
Late last month, a Japanese court convicted three PCI executives of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Law, which bans bribing of foreign government officials, and gave them suspended sentences of 18 to 24 months.
The court also imposed a fine of 70 million yen ($774,000) on the PCI.
At the World Bank Consultative Group meeting in Hanoi on December 4, Japan said it would suspend ODA loans to Vietnam pending further investigation into the case.
Investigation by Japanese authorities will continue after the Japanese court case wraps up, Japanese Ambassador Mitsuo Sakaba told Thanh Nien last month.
Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito has been visiting Vietnam since Monday to promote further strengthening of bilateral ties and mark the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
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CASE DEVELOPMENTS
- On June 25, Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper reported investigators were examining Pacific Consultants International (PCI) over allegations the firm had bribed Southeast Asian officials to secure contracts for official development assistance (ODA) funded projects, including a US$200,000 bribe to a Vietnamese official.
- Three days later, the newspaper reported PCI executives had identified the recipient of the bribe, saying that person was responsible for the East-West Highway Project.
- In early July, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee asked the project management unit of the East-West Highway and Water Environment Project to report on the case. The unit said proper procedures had been carried out in selecting PCI as the consultant contractor of the project.
- On August 25, four PCI executives were prosecuted for offering bribes of $820,000 in 2003 and 2006 to Huynh Ngoc Si.
- On September 9, a special task force of the Ministry of Public Security arrived in HCMC to investigate the allegations.
- On November 12, Yomiuri newspaper reported four former PCI executives - former President Masayoshi Taga, former managing Director Kunio Takasu, former board Director Haruo Sakashita and former Hanoi office chief Tsuneo Sakano had pled guilty to bribery charges during a trial in a Tokyo District Court.
- On November 13, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told the National Assembly a joint committee of Japanese and Vietnamese officials had been set up to probe the matter further and deal with it in accordance with Vietnamese laws.
- On November 19, Si was suspended by the HCMC government pending further investigations.
- On December 8, the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security announced a criminal investigation into the allegations.
- On December 12, the Ministry of Public Security banned Si from going abroad while the investigations were underway.
- On January 29, a Tokyo district court sentenced three PCI officials including Haruo Sakashita, Kunio Takasu, and Tsuneo Sakano to two years, 20 months and 18 months respectively in prison, all suspended for three years. |
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THE EAST-WEST HIGHWAY PROJECT
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A segment of the East-West Highway |
Work on the VND9.8 trillion (US$581.6 million) East-West Highway project, funded by Japanese official development assistance (ODA), commenced in 2005 and is expected to be finished in the first quarter of 2010.
The prime minister approved the awarding of the contracts in 2004.
The 22-kilometer highway will span eight districts and ease traffic congestion on major roads in the southern part of the city. It is also expected to meet rising demand for goods transported from HCMC ports to neighboring provinces.
Of the total investment, the HCMC government has contributed VND3.5 trillion ($220 million), while the remainder is financed by ODA loans from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
The East-West highway project comprises two construction packages. The first package includes the 1.5-kilometer Thu Thiem Tunnel, which will be the longest tunnel in Southeast Asia. The tunnel is being built by Japanese construction giant Obayashi Corporation.
The second package, built by Obayashi Corporation in 33 months, includes construction of a new road network and expansion of 13 kilometers of canal-side roads which will lead to the tunnel gate in District 1. |
Reported by Thanh Nien staff |
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