Deputy Minister of Transport Pham Quy Tieu has asked relevant agencies to find individuals or organisations responsible for spreading wrong information about the design of Long Thanh Airport.

A photograph of the Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong which Tran Dinh Ba used in his story about the Long Thanh Internatinal Airport.  

Recently, some news reports stated that the design of Long Thanh Airport was a copy of a Hong Kong airport.

The Ministry of Transport (MoT) has also asked the Ministry of Education and Training to present the exact information about Tran Dinh Ba's Doctorate in Aviation.

The MOT said that last Friday, the Giao Duc Viet Nam (Education of Viet Nam) and the Phap Luat TP HCM (Law of HCM City), two e-newspapers, posted stories giving wrong information about Long Thanh International Airport. The two stories quoted Tran Dinh Ba as saying that Long Thanh International Airport's design was a copy of Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong.

The two stories also carried photographs, which, according to Ba, were the images of Chek Lap Kok Airport.

They were not the images of Long Thanh Airport, which were approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. They were also not the images in the project document, which was submitted to the Government and the National Assembly for approval, the MoT pointed out.

Thus, the content that Ba supported on the two e-newspapers was not exactly the MoT's documents.

The MoT also said that according to the newspapers that quoted Ba, he is a Doctorate in Aviation and an expert on the subject. However, the MoT affirmed that Ba has never worked in aviation agencies, companies or organisations, and he is not an expert on aviation.

At a conference on Long Thanh International Airport held by the National Assembly Economic Committee in HCM City last year, Ba introduced himself as a Doctorate in Aviation from Riga Aviation University.

However, Luong Hoai Nam, a Doctorate in Aviation from Riga Aviation University and an expert on the field, doubted that Ba held a degree from the university and believed he was an impostor.

On August 24 last year, Mai Trong Tuan, a former pilot, sent a letter to Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang saying Ba was not a Doctorate.

The MOT has also asked the Party Central Committee's Commission for Publicity and Education and the Ministry of Information and Communications to urge the two e-newspapers to apologise for publishing wrong information without checking facts. The two e-newspapers should also issue a denial, it has said.

The MOT has asked competent agencies to probe Ba's responsibility and other relevant persons in the case. 

VNS