Transport ministry investigates alleged bribery case
Nhan Dan/VNA – Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang signed a decision on March 27 that established a working group to look into allegations that Japan Transportation Consultants, Inc. (JTC) payed kickbacks to win a national railway contract in Vietnam.
Nguyen Van Huyen, chief inspector of the Transport Ministry, has been appointed to lead the eight-member working group.
On March 26, the ministry issued a statement ordering 10 of its officials to present written accounts of their involvement in the early stages of the Hanoi city urban railway construction project (Line 1), which has become mired in controversy and bribery allegations.
The senior figures under investigation include seven working officials and three retirees. Among them are acting General Director of the Vietnam Road Administration Nguyen Duc Thang and former Transport Deputy Minister Le Manh Hung.
The move came after a Japanese newspaper reported on an investigation into a Tokyo-based railway consultancy firm that admitted to paying JPY80 million (about US$780,000) to win a US$41 million contract in Vietnam that is funded by the Japanese Government’s official development assistance (ODA).
The accused company, Japan Transportation Consultants, Inc., was indeed selected to work on the project, the ministry confirmed.
In the March 20 article, JTC President Tamio Kakinuma admitted to paying kickbacks to civil servants in Vietnam, Indonesia and Uzbekistan in return for contracts on five ODA projects.
Starting in 2008, the nine-year project is for building the Ngoc Hoi-Yen Vien sky train system at a cost of over VND19.4 trillion (US$920 million). Nearly US$660 million of the funding has been sourced from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
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