VietNamNet Bridge – According to the report on corruption fighting in 2011 sent to National Assembly deputies on October 21, police have finalized initial investigation of the polymer banknote printing case.
According to the report, police did not detected corruption related to the case.

Previously, CFTD Technologies Co, Ltd, a Hanoi-based company, was alleged to take US$10 million in return for securing an Australian firm – the Securency International - a lucrative contract procuring polymer for printing banknotes in Vietnam.

The case cracked open after Australian federal police in June 2009 launched investigations into Securency following claims in Australian daily The Age that Securency, which makes polymer for banknotes in 26 countries, paid lucrative commissions to overseas businesspeople for contracts.

Since then, several Securency staff in Malaysia, Switzerland, the UK and Australia have already been arrested.

Back in early 2000s, Securency International, a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia, won a contract to supply polymer in Vietnam, to be printed into banknotes by CFTD company. The latter was authorized by the State Bank of Vietnam - the country’s central bank - to print plastic notes under a government’s plan to replace all paper notes in 2002.

The incident attracted public attention after it was found that CFTD at the time employed Le Duc Minh for two months. Minh is the son of Le Duc Thuy, the then governor of the State Bank of Vietnam.

Speculations that Minh pulled strings led to an inspection in 2007 by the Government Inspectorate - a central agency responsible for financial investigation independent of the police - which found no wrongdoings.

The Inspectorate back then concluded that CFTD followed regulations in signing contracts and that Minh’s employment at CFTD was only coincidental which unjustly tarnished the governor’s reputation.

Vietnam started to switch to using polymer notes from 2002, since when several currency-related scandals broke including blurred polymer, tainted banknotes and fake ones.

According to the latest report to the National Assembly on October 21, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung who is also the chief of the Central Steering Board for Combating Corruption has assigned the Ministry of Public Security and the Supreme People’s Procuracy to keep contact with Swiss and Australian investigating agencies in this case.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, vice chief of the Central Steering Board for Combating Corruption made guidances on this case but the report does not mention the guidance.

The report also provides information about other serious corruption cases. Related to wrongdoings at the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin), the report says that on September 26, the Ministry of Public Security released investigating results on intentional wrongdoings that caused losses of over VND800 billion. Further investigation will focus on corruption acts.

VnEconomy