HCMC court gives life sentence to former official

Huynh Ngoc Si pictured after the trial on October 16, 2010

Photo: Tuoi Tre

Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court on Monday delivered the life sentence to Huynh Ngoc Si, former deputy director of the HCMC Transport Department and director of the Japan-funded East-West Highway and Water Environment projects.

The judges said Si took bribes worth US$262,000 from officials of the Japanese company Pacific Consultants International (PCI).

According to the indictment of the HCMC People’s Procuracy, PCI officials agreed to pay bribes in order to win a bidding package for supervision and consulting services of the East-West Highway project.

Si was ordered to pay the money back, with two of his houses would be seized as well.

The judges said his act had seriously affected the reputation of Vietnamese authorities in implementing ODA-funded projects.

The severe punishment for him will assure the public’s confidence in the fight against corruption of the Party and State, according to the judges.

The court also asked the prosecution agency to further investigate the case to find whether Si took more than $2 million from PCI executives as previously stated in their testimonies.

Si is already serving a six-year jail term for “abuse of power” conviction. He was sentenced to three years in September last year for pocketing $2,900 in office rent to PCI. In March this year an appeals court increased his jail term to six years.

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Life sentence proposed for former transport official

Huynh Ngoc Si pictured before the trial on October 16, 2010

Photo: Tuoi Tre

Ho Chi Minh City People’s Procuracy on Saturday proposed the life sentence for Huynh Ngoc Si, former deputy director of the HCMC Transport Department and director of the Japan-funded East-West Highway and HCMC Water Environment projects.

The prosecution agency said Si took bribes worth US$262,000 from officials of the Japanese company Pacific Consultants International (PCI).

It said his act had caused “serious consequences,” affecting the process of foreign investment attraction and damaging Vietnam’s reputation of managing Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA).

According to the agency, Si should have been sentenced to death, but it proposed the life sentence given his contribution to the country in the war.

Si said the proposed sentence was “too harsh” for him, but added he did not ask to reduce the sentence because he was innocent.

The judges will deliver the sentence on Monday.

Last year a Tokyo court sentenced former PCI president Masayoshi Taga to a suspended jail term after convicting him of bribing Sy.

Japanese media reported that former PCI executives admitted paying Sy $820,000 in bribes.

Three former PCI executives in addition to Taga were given suspended prison terms and the company was fined 70 million yen ($774,193) over bribes to secure road contracts in the case.

Japan, Vietnam's biggest bilateral donor, resumed aid loans to Vietnam one year ago after suspending them during the PCI scandal.

Si is already serving a six-year jail term for “abuse of power” conviction. He was sentenced to three years in September last year for pocketing $2,900 in office rent to PCI. In March this year an appeals court increased his jail term to six years.

Sy's deputy, Le Qua, was also ordered to serve five years, up from an original two.

He and Qua were charged with renting state offices to PCI between 2001 and 2002 for a total of US$80,000 but not including the money in official accounts.

The two officials deducted VND350 million ($18,227) for "receptions", divided the rest among dozens of employees and managers, while each pocketed about VND53 million themselves, a court ruled in September.

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Former project executive charged with taking bribe

Huynh Ngoc Si is former deputy director of HCMC Department of Transport

Photo: VNA

The Supreme People’s Procuracy on Thursday laid charges of taking bribes against Huynh Ngoc Si, former director of the management board of the ODA-funded East-West Highway in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to the indictment, Si took US$262,000 from executives of Japan’s Pacific Consultants International (PCI) for awarding design and supervision consultancy contracts to the company.

As the ex-PCI officials, who were prosecuted on charges of bribery and violations of Japan’s anti-competition laws, confessed that Si received their bribes seven times in total, the Ministry of Public Security’s Investigation Agency decided to continue further investigation.

The ex-employees with Japan’s PCI claimed that they gave Si bribes totaling $800,000 in exchange for the provision of consultancy services for the project. The bribes were given between 2003 and 2006, at a time when the project in Ho Chi Minh City was underway.

The East-West Highway project was approved in 2000. It used the Japanese Government’s ODA and Vietnam’s capital.

On September 25, 2009, Si was sentenced to three years in jail on charges of “abuse of power” when overseeing the East-West Highway and HCMC Water Environment Improvement projects.

Si, who is also former deputy director of HCMC’s Department of Transport, and his deputy, Le Qua, misappropriated funds earned from leasing a state-owned house on Nguyen Thi Dieu Street in District 3 to Japan’s PCI.

The money received from the contract between August 2001 and November 2002, estimated at around VND1.2 billion ($66,500), was not submitted to the state budget but disbursed among 87 officials working in the project.

Si took VND52 million and Qua took VND54 million from the contract. The two officials also used VND350 million for “treating guests.”

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