As many as 12 state officials in Nam Dinh Province have been punished for visiting pagodas during work hours.

Officials skip work to go to temples

Director of Nam Dinh City's State Treasury Nguyen Tai Tam was dismissed from the position and was transferred to be the vice head of Nam Dinh Province's State Treasury Office. Deputy directors of Nam Dinh City's State Treasury Le Huu Vu and Hoang Duy Luc, the head accountant Do Thi Thu Huong and eight other officials were reprimanded.

On February 26, Tam and many other officials of the Nam Dinh City's State Treasury and Binh Luc District Power Company of Ha Nam Province were caught praying at Tran Temple during work hours.

After receiving the news, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung asked the State Treasury to investigate the case. According to Dung, the officials had violated the ministry and prime minister's directives to work on assigned tasks and not go to festivals after Tet.

On March 8, the municipal party committee announced that they had fired Nguyen Tai Tam, reprimanded and gave warnings to nine other officials.

Binh Luc District Power Company also fired its director Nguyen Huu Nghi. He was later assigned to be the manager of installation and repair workshop for three years, starting from March 5.

Dtinews