New inquiry confirms prison terms in Can Tho fraud case


There was enough evidence to indict the former director of a State-run farm in southern Can Tho City and her accomplices for creating a slush fund using company money, the city police said on Tuesday following a fresh investigation.

In 2008 a district court passed a sentence of eight-years' imprisonment on Tran Ngoc Suong, 62, for instructing her subordinates to siphon off more than VND9.1 billion ($435,400) to the fund during her tenure as director of Song Hau Farm from 2001 to 2007.

Her appeal was rejected by the Can Tho People's Court which confirmed the sentence and also ordered her to pay VND4.3 billion back to the Government's coffers.

However, last May the Supreme People's Court overturned the verdict and transferred the case to the Supreme People's Procuracy for a fresh investigation.

Colonel Le Viet Hung, deputy director of the Can Tho City Police, said the reinvestigation has thrown up the same results – that Suong seemed to be guilty as charged and might even have siphoned off VND1 billion more than believed earlier.

Also jailed for abetting Suong were former deputy director Truong Hong Nhung, former chief accountant Dang The Quoc Hung, former cashier Nguyen Van Son, and former accountant Hoang Thi Binh.

The Can Tho People's Procuracy will prosecute the case.

Suong told a Viet Nam News Agency reporter that the conclusions drawn following the reinvestigation are "unlawful and unjust," adding she would petition the Can Tho Procuracy and central agencies.


ADB extends rural loans of US$210 mln


Photo: VOV
The Asian Development Bank has agreed to provide three loans worth US$210 million to help Vietnam upgrade infrastructure, improve transport connectivity and prevent the outbreak of epidemics in rural areas.

The agreement was signed by the State Bank of Vietnam and the ADB in Hanoi on February 23.

The biggest loan, valued at US$108 million, is for a project on infrastructure development in northern mountainous provinces. It will focus on upgrading 600 km of rural roads as well as traditional village or district markets in 15 poorest provinces in the northern mountainous region.

The project also aims to improve infrastructure management capacity and living conditions for poor highlanders.

A US$75 million loan will go to the second phase of upgrading the transport system in the northern part of the greater sub-Mekong region. The money will be spent on upgrading 340 km of roads, and repairing and building transport projects.

The final loan worth US$27 million is for the second phase of controlling contagious diseases in the sub-Mekong region. It is aimed at improving the competence for workers, especially those at village or district levels, who are in charge of controlling contagious and tropical diseases.


Japan to help Hanoi improve public transport


The Hanoi Municipal People’s Committee and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a project to improve the public transport service in Hanoi.

Under a three-year project, JICA will send experts to Hanoi to help the city with staff training and provide equipment to carry out the project’s pilot activities.

The US$3 million project, funded by the Japanese Government, is aimed at increasing the number of people suing public transport by improving its quality, thus helping to solve the problem of traffic jams.


5th forum on hospital management opens in Hanoi


The 5th Forum on Hospitals opened in Hanoi on February 23 with over 120 delegates from international and domestic healthcare organisations taking part.

Jointly organised by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the German Agency for Development Cooperation, this annual event aims to help the Vietnamese government to raise the quality of the country’s medical services.

At the event, the delegates discussed three main topics including hospital finances, quality management and the safe use of medicines.

Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the MOH’s Health Examination and Treatment Department, said that at present, many hospitals are overcrowded with patients, and short of specialists to ensure quality management.

He also urged the healthcare sector to draw up a set of standards for examining and identifying and treating diseases as well as prioritising the training of staff in quality management and promoting the application of information technology in quality management.


Repairs under way on stranded vessel


Repairs on the vessel MV Bien Nam, which had been stranded near India's Chennai port since August, were underway, said Vu Quang, director the Gia Hai Company.

Nguyen Thanh Binh, an expert in marine machinery, said the vessel's main engine would be able to resume normal operation within seven to eight days.

Repairs to three broken generators would take an additional three days, he said.

Managers at Chennai Port and representatives of the International Transport Workers Federation agreed to create favourable conditions for the repairs.


Forty five passengers escape burning bus


Forty-five passengers are lucky to be alive after their bus suddenly caught fire on Wednesday morning travelling down Highway 1A in the southern province of Binh Dinh.

The team of drivers, including Duong Van Thinh, noticed the fire and evacuated all passengers on board.

Binh Dinh province's fire fighters, the local police force, and Phu Cat airport soldiers took one hour to extinguish the blaze.

The bus was making the long journey from the northern province of Thai Binh to Ba Ria-Vung Tau province in the south.


Police detain woman in torch killing case


Police in southern Long An Province on Tuesday detained a woman who allegedly killed her husband by setting him on fire in their home on January 19.

Police said the woman, Tran Thuy Lieu, 40, on Monday confessed that she wanted to kill her husband, Le Hoang Hung, a journalist for Nguoi Lao dong (Labourer) newspaper. Hung died in hospital on January 29.

Lieu allegedly told police that, after dousing him with petrol and set him on fire, she deliberately did not contact emergency services to seek care for her husband.


Ha Long Bay vessel operator has no licence

Inspectors of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have found that the operator of a vessel that sank and claimed the lives of 11 foreign tourists and one Vietnamese last week did not have a licence for international travel.

AZ Queen Agency, owner of Truong Hai ship which sank in Ha Long Bay last Thursday, was only registered to offer tourist transportation services from Ha Noi's Old Quarter to Quang Ninh Province's Ha Long City. Investigators also found that the tour guide in charge of the trip did not have the proper tour guide certificate and had not signed a labour contract with the company.

Vietnamese, Laotian localities step up cooperation


The Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People’s Council of Thanh Hoa province, Mai Van Ninh, led a delegation to visit Houaphan province of Laos from February 21-23.

Ninh held talks with Houaphan province Party Committee Secretary Khamhung Heuangvongsi, during which both parties spoke highly of cooperation activities, especially in economics, culture, society, security and defence over the past five years.

They agreed upon the contents of a new cooperation plan from now until 2015.

On the occasion, Ninh and his Laotian counterpart attended the opening in Houaphan of a political and administrative school with funding from Thanh Hoa province.

Houaphan also received US$410,000 in non-refundable aid from the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee for construction of four bridges to improve transport links in the province.


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