VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Transport has asked 10 officials, including three retired people, to present written accounts of their involvement in the early stages of the Ha Noi railway project.

Vietnam asks Japan to provide information on bribery allegations

They include: Mr. Nguyen Huu Bang - former chairman of the Vietnam Railways Corporation; Mr. Nguyen Duc Thang – Acting Director General of the Vietnam Road Agency (former Deputy Director of the Department of Transport Work Construction and Quality Management); Mr. Tran Quoc Viet - Chairman of the Vietnam Highway Investment - Development Corporation (former Director General of the Department of Transport Work Construction and Quality Management); Ms. Nguyen Minh Tuyen - Deputy Director of the Department of Transport Work Construction and Quality Management; Mr. Le Quyet Tien - Head of the Legal - Procurement Division of the Department of Transport Work Construction and Quality Management; Mr. Phan Huu Bien – a member of the Legal - Procurement Division of the Department of Transport Work Construction and Quality Management; Mr. Vu Nam Nguyen – a member of the Department of Planning and Investment; Mr. Trieu Khac Dung - Director of the Highway Management Department (former Deputy Head of the Evaluation Division 1, Department of Transport Work Construction and Quality Management).

Mr. Le Manh Hung - former Deputy Minister of Transport and Mr. Ha Khac Hao - former Deputy Director of the Department of Planning – Investment, who retired are also named in the list.

Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang has asked all officials who participate in the projects involving the Japanese contractor JTC and staff of the railway project management unit to make a report.

Thang stressed: "All persons involved, including retired ones, have to explain about their responsibilities and their tasks. If violations are detected, the violators will be severely punished, regardless of who they are."

One day after information on the bribery allegations was revealed, three officials of the Vietnam Railway Corporation and the Vietnam Railway Administration were suspended.

The Inspectorate of the Ministry of Transport has set up an inspection team consisting of 10 people, including three officials of the Ministry of Public Security to check out the entire projects carried out by Japanese contractor JTC and even projects of the Vietnam Railway Administration, which organized bidding for these projects.

The move follows a report in Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun that JTC had admitted to paying JPY80 million (about US$780,000) to win a $41 million railway project in Viet Nam funded by Japanese official development assistance (ODA).

The accused firm was involved in the ongoing Ha Noi City Urban Railway Construction Project (Line 1), according to the transport ministry.

Two teams of inspectors will report on the management, implementation and construction of the project and a number of others under the Viet Nam Railway Corporation involving JTC.

Inspections will also be carried out on a number of minor railway projects managed by the Viet Nam Railway Authority, including railway projects linking Ha Long-Cai Lan, Lim-Pha Lai and Pha Lai-Ha Long.

All inspection activities will be supervised by Chief Inspector Nguyen Van Huyen from the transport ministry.

The Ministry of Public Security is also working with the ministry's inspectors to review the Ha Noi City Urban Railway Construction Project to find possible shortcomings and violations during its implementation.

Four senior Vietnamese railway officials have been suspended pending further investigation into the case.

The ministry has sent Deputy Minister Nguyen Ngoc Dong to Japan to work with Japanese authorities on the case. He is scheduled to work with the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office and the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper to verify the allegations.

In an article published on March 21, Yomiuri Shimbun – the highest circulating newspaper in Japan – reported that JTC President Tamio Kakinuma had admitted to paying "kickbacks" to civil servants in Viet Nam, Indonesia and Uzbekistan in return for orders for five ODA projects.

According to the newspaper, illegal payments were made on some 40 occasions between 2008 and February this year, totaling about JPY130 million ($1.27 million).