Ex-official files appeals against life sentence in graft case

A former vice director of Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Transportation Friday lodged an appeal against the life sentence handed down to him this month for taking bribes from a Japanese firm.

In his appeal, Huynh Ngoc Si asked the People’s Supreme Procuracy to reconsider the punishment, saying that he didn’t receive bribes from the Tokyo-based Consultants International (PCI) to help the company win contracts of the Japanese ODA-funded East-West Highway Project.

On October 15 Si, who was in charge of the city’s major infrastructure project between 2000 and 2008, was sentenced to life for taking US$262,000 in bribes from PCI’s former leaders on May 28, 2003.

The HCMC People’s Court also ordered Si to pay back the money to the state.

Although Si didn’t admit his wrongdoing at the first hearing, the court convicted him based on testimonies of PCI’s former leaders who accused him when standing trial in Tokyo on November 11, 2009, as well as other materials.

During the proceedings, the Japanese officials claimed to have offered Si a total of $820,000 in bribes.

Si, who is currently serving a six-year jail term for "abuse of power," is now under investigation for allegedly taking bribes from PCI on six additional occasions.

So far he has only stood trial for his acceptance of $262,000 in bribes, because the initial investigation deadline had passed.

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Ex-official files appeals against life sentence in graft case

A former vice director of Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Transportation Friday lodged an appeal against the life sentence handed down to him this month for taking bribes from a Japanese firm.

In his appeal, Huynh Ngoc Si asked the People’s Supreme Procuracy to reconsider the punishment, saying that he didn’t receive bribes from the Tokyo-based Consultants International (PCI) to help the company win contracts of the Japanese ODA-funded East-West Highway Project.

On October 15 Si, who was in charge of the city’s major infrastructure project between 2000 and 2008, was sentenced to life for taking US$262,000 in bribes from PCI’s former leaders on May 28, 2003.

The HCMC People’s Court also ordered Si to pay back the money to the state.

Although Si didn’t admit his wrongdoing at the first hearing, the court convicted him based on testimonies of PCI’s former leaders who accused him when standing trial in Tokyo on November 11, 2009, as well as other materials.

During the proceedings, the Japanese officials claimed to have offered Si a total of $820,000 in bribes.

Si, who is currently serving a six-year jail term for "abuse of power," is now under investigation for allegedly taking bribes from PCI on six additional occasions.

So far he has only stood trial for his acceptance of $262,000 in bribes, because the initial investigation deadline had passed.

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Dong Nai bankers indicted for granting insecure loans

Dong Nai Province People’s Procuracy has laid charges of “violating regulations of lending in the activities of credit organizations” against seven former officials of province-based Long Thanh branch of the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank).

They were charged with granting insecure loans worth more than VND431 billion (US$22.1 million), causing a loss of VND336 billion.

Among the seven officials are Tran Thi Thanh Nga, former director of the Long Thanh branch, and Nguyen Duc Dung, former deputy director.

Pham Van Tho and Nguyen Thi Nhan are former chiefs of the branch’s customer office. The three others are credit officers.

The Dong Nai prosecution agency also laid charges against three company executives involved in the case.

Investigations showed Nga and Dung directly signed some loan contracts with the companies without assessing their assets, or with enterprises which do not have business licenses; and some loans exceeded the allowed amount or were spent on wrong purposes.

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Dong Nai bankers indicted for granting insecure loans

Dong Nai Province People’s Procuracy has laid charges of “violating regulations of lending in the activities of credit organizations” against seven former officials of province-based Long Thanh branch of the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank).

They were charged with granting insecure loans worth more than VND431 billion (US$22.1 million), causing a loss of VND336 billion.

Among the seven officials are Tran Thi Thanh Nga, former director of the Long Thanh branch, and Nguyen Duc Dung, former deputy director.

Pham Van Tho and Nguyen Thi Nhan are former chiefs of the branch’s customer office. The three others are credit officers.

The Dong Nai prosecution agency also laid charges against three company executives involved in the case.

Investigations showed Nga and Dung directly signed some loan contracts with the companies without assessing their assets, or with enterprises which do not have business licenses; and some loans exceeded the allowed amount or were spent on wrong purposes.

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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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HCMC transport official stand trial for bribery

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

Photo: VNA

Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court began Friday a four-day trial of a former city official who was involved in a corruption case that led to the Japanese government suspending aid to Vietnam in 2008.

Huynh Ngoc Si, the former deputy director of the HCMC Transport Department, was charged with taking bribes totaling US$262,000 from a Japanese consulting company in exchange for the provision of consultancy services for a Japan-funded project.

Si, who doubles as the former director of the Japan-funded East-West Highway and the Water Environment Improvement projects in HCMC, was sentenced to three years in prison with “abuse of power” charges by the HCMC People’s Court after a two-day trial on September 25 last year.

Si’s ex-deputy, Le Qua, received two-year sentence with similar charges.

Si and Qua rented a house in HCMC’s District 3 to executives from Japan’s Pacific Consultants International (PCI), who paid US$5,000 a month to use the property as an office.

PCI officials paid a total $80,000 in rent in 2001 and 2002.

The house was owned by the project, but the executives were found guilty of pocketing the ‘rent money’ instead of passing it on to the project management board.

Four months after the trial, the Ministry of Security announced they laid “taking bribes” charges against Si under Article 279 of the Criminal Code.

A conviction on the charge can result in a jail sentence of seven years to death penalty.

The new trial was held at the request of the HCMC People’s Procuracy, which said the sentences given to the two officials were too lenient.

In December 2008, the Ministry of Public Security began a corruption investigation into the two infrastructure projects, estimated to cost $760 million, after an official request by the Tokyo prosecution agency.

According to the agency, PCI executives admitted in a Tokyo court they had given $820,000 between 2003 and 2006 to the former director of the projects to win consulting contracts.

At Vietnam’s request, Japan sent 3,050 pages of document regarding the PCI case to the Supreme People’s Procuracy in both English and Japanese late last year.

But it wasn’t until recently that the Vietnamese procurators announced they had finished the translation.

According to Vietnamese investigators, they found evidences that Si accepted $262,000 from PCI in May 2003, so they decided to lay “taking bribes” charges against him.

Si, who oversaw the two projects in his capacity of deputy director of HCMC Transport Department, was suspended from his post and all Party activities by the department’s Party Committee after the scandal.

In December 2008, Japan suspended its aid funding to Vietnam until the government took "meaningful" steps to eliminate corruption in public works programs.

Japan’s ODA program to Vietnam was resumed in early April last year.

At the new trial, 13 witnesses have been summoned, of which 10 are former officers of the East-West highway project. The three others are former officers of PCI.

Around 40 local and foreign reporters attended the trial.

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Jailed former official to be tried for taking bribes

Vietnam’s supreme prosecutor's office issued an indictment Thursday against a former official who is alleged to have accepted US$262,000 in bribes while overseeing a major development project in Ho Chi Minh City.

The Supreme Procuracy has accused Huynh Ngoc Si, former vice director of the city’s Department of Transport, of committing crimes that could result in a death sentence - if he is convicted.

Si, who is currently serving time for "abuse of power," has denied all wrongdoing.

According to the official indictment, Si was assigned to oversee the East-West Highway Project on September 26, 2000. Over VND14 trillion (US$718.5 million) in foreign and domestic funds had been set aside for the project.

In January, 2001 the project’s management board invited five companies, including the Tokyo-based Pacific Consultants International (PCI) firm, to bid on the project.

According to prosecutors in both Japan and Vietnam, PCI’s officials bribed Si in an effort to win a consulting and supervision role on the project. The indictment further alleges that Si took steps to ensure that PCI was treated generously after they had been selected for the job.

Prosecutors say that after several meetings, PCI agreed to pay Si 11 percent, or $1.7 million, of a supervision contract, and 10 percent, or $900,000, of a consulting contract.

Officials from the Japanese Ministry of Justice claim that on May 28, 2005 Si accepted $262,000 from Sakano Tsuneo, chief representative of PCI in Vietnam, and Takasu Kunio, former managing director of PCI at his office.

On November 11, 2009 while standing trial in Tokyo, PCI leaders testified that they had bribed Si on six additional occasions. Japan prosecuted the officials for offering $820,000 in bribes.

Vietnam is bringing Si to trial for the afformentioned bribes while continuing to investigate the further allegations. The deadline for the initial investigation has ended, according to prosecutors, creating something of a time crunch.

Si is currently serving a six-year jail term for illegally leasing office space to PCI from August 2001 and November 2002 and pocketing VND1.2 billion (current $62,959) from the agreement.

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Jailed former official to be tried for taking bribes

Vietnam’s supreme prosecutor's office issued an indictment Thursday against a former official who is alleged to have accepted US$262,000 in bribes while overseeing a major development project in Ho Chi Minh City.

The Supreme Procuracy has accused Huynh Ngoc Si, former vice director of the city’s Department of Transport, of committing crimes that could result in a death sentence - if he is convicted.

Si, who is currently serving time for "abuse of power," has denied all wrongdoing.

According to the official indictment, Si was assigned to oversee the East-West Highway Project on September 26, 2000. Over VND14 trillion (US$718.5 million) in foreign and domestic funds had been set aside for the project.

In January, 2001 the project’s management board invited five companies, including the Tokyo-based Pacific Consultants International (PCI) firm, to bid on the project.

According to prosecutors in both Japan and Vietnam, PCI’s officials bribed Si in an effort to win a consulting and supervision role on the project. The indictment further alleges that Si took steps to ensure that PCI was treated generously after they had been selected for the job.

Prosecutors say that after several meetings, PCI agreed to pay Si 11 percent, or $1.7 million, of a supervision contract, and 10 percent, or $900,000, of a consulting contract.

Officials from the Japanese Ministry of Justice claim that on May 28, 2005 Si accepted $262,000 from Sakano Tsuneo, chief representative of PCI in Vietnam, and Takasu Kunio, former managing director of PCI at his office.

On November 11, 2009 while standing trial in Tokyo, PCI leaders testified that they had bribed Si on six additional occasions. Japan prosecuted the officials for offering $820,000 in bribes.

Vietnam is bringing Si to trial for the afformentioned bribes while continuing to investigate the further allegations. The deadline for the initial investigation has ended, according to prosecutors, creating something of a time crunch.

Si is currently serving a six-year jail term for illegally leasing office space to PCI from August 2001 and November 2002 and pocketing VND1.2 billion (current $62,959) from the agreement.

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Former district head sentenced to 26 years in jail

A court in Ho Chi Minh City Friday handed down a 26-year-jail term to the former head of Hoc Mon District for accepting VND1.4-billion (US$71,942) in bribes and abusing power to approve two infrastructure projects.

Nguyen Van Khoe was also found guilty of abusing his official capacity to influence others and appropriate property.

Previously prosecutors had said the former of Hoc Mon People’s Committee may face the death sentence for the charges filed against him.

Khoe was convicted of receiving bribes from Tran Thi Ha, former director of Thanh Phat Company and her deputy Ha Van Hoa to approve a housing estate and an industrial zone in the district’s Dong Thanh Commune in late 2002 and early 2003.

He also asked them for cash and gifts worth a total of $15,000 and VND780 million ($40,082) to bribe other officials to secure the approval, despite the fact that Thinh Phat didn’t have the financial capability to build them, the trial heard.

Tran Van Te, former chairman of Dong Thanh People’s Committee, was sentenced to 13 years in prison also for power abuse and receiving bribes.

Duong Minh Trung, former chief of Hoc Mon District Division of Planning and Investment, and Nguyen Van Do, another former official from Dong Thanh Commune, were given seven year imprisonment and three year suspended sentence respectively for abuse of power.

Dang Cong Danh, former director of Danh Khoa Company, meanwhile, received eight years for brokering bribes between Khoe and the husband and wife team of Ha and Hoa.

According to the court, with approval for the two projects, Ha and Hoa also secured loans of 3,000 taels (approximate 3,600 ounces) of gold and VND18 billion from the Cho Lon Branch of the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank).

The scheme was a scam with the bank as the victim, the HCMC People’s Court said, sentencing the married couple to life for “offering bribes” and “committing fraud to appropriate properties.”

Ha and Hoa were ordered to pay back the loans as compensation to Agribank, but as the bank didn’t claim the compensation at the trial, the gold and money would be transferred to the state budget, the court said.

The court also handed down a 12-year jail term to Tran Van Tuyen, former director of the bank’s branch for violating lending regulations.

Tuyen’s subordinate, Luu Thi Minh Hieu, was given 10 years on the same charges, while Nguyen Cong Dinh, a bank employee, was sentenced to seven years in prison for receiving bribes.

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Former district head sentenced to 26 years in jail

A court in Ho Chi Minh City Friday handed down a 26-year-jail term to the former head of Hoc Mon District for accepting VND1.4-billion (US$71,942) in bribes and abusing power to approve two infrastructure projects.

Nguyen Van Khoe was also found guilty of abusing his official capacity to influence others and appropriate property.

Previously prosecutors had said the former of Hoc Mon People’s Committee may face the death sentence for the charges filed against him.

Khoe was convicted of receiving bribes from Tran Thi Ha, former director of Thanh Phat Company and her deputy Ha Van Hoa to approve a housing estate and an industrial zone in the district’s Dong Thanh Commune in late 2002 and early 2003.

He also asked them for cash and gifts worth a total of $15,000 and VND780 million ($40,082) to bribe other officials to secure the approval, despite the fact that Thinh Phat didn’t have the financial capability to build them, the trial heard.

Tran Van Te, former chairman of Dong Thanh People’s Committee, was sentenced to 13 years in prison also for power abuse and receiving bribes.

Duong Minh Trung, former chief of Hoc Mon District Division of Planning and Investment, and Nguyen Van Do, another former official from Dong Thanh Commune, were given seven year imprisonment and three year suspended sentence respectively for abuse of power.

Dang Cong Danh, former director of Danh Khoa Company, meanwhile, received eight years for brokering bribes between Khoe and the husband and wife team of Ha and Hoa.

According to the court, with approval for the two projects, Ha and Hoa also secured loans of 3,000 taels (approximate 3,600 ounces) of gold and VND18 billion from the Cho Lon Branch of the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank).

The scheme was a scam with the bank as the victim, the HCMC People’s Court said, sentencing the married couple to life for “offering bribes” and “committing fraud to appropriate properties.”

Ha and Hoa were ordered to pay back the loans as compensation to Agribank, but as the bank didn’t claim the compensation at the trial, the gold and money would be transferred to the state budget, the court said.

The court also handed down a 12-year jail term to Tran Van Tuyen, former director of the bank’s branch for violating lending regulations.

Tuyen’s subordinate, Luu Thi Minh Hieu, was given 10 years on the same charges, while Nguyen Cong Dinh, a bank employee, was sentenced to seven years in prison for receiving bribes.

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City business couple get life for bribery, bank fraud

HCM CITY — The HCM City People's Court has given life sentences to a business couple for bribery and cheating a bank, and 26 years' imprisonment to a former district chairman for abuse of power.

Following a two-week trial, Tran Thi Ha, former director of Thanh Phat Company, and her deputy, Ha Van Hoa, yesterday received life terms for "cheating to usurp other people's property" and "paying bribes."

Nguyen Van Khoe, former chairman of the Hoc Mon District People's Committee, got 26 years on several counts like taking bribes from the two and abusing his official capacity to influence others and appropriate property.

In 2002, Hoa and his wife Ha registered a new company claiming it was worth VND5 billion (US$250,000) when it was not even worth VND1 billion, according to the prosecution. They later falsified more documents to show it to be worth VND50 billion and secured approval to build a housing complex and industrial zone in the district's Dong Thanh Commune by bribing Khoe and other officials.

Khoe took VND1.4 billion ($72,000) and half a rhino horn worth $10,000 from the couple.

In return, he ensured that their projects were ratified by his subordinates. The court concluded that he had accepted bribes to approve the projects.

With the approvals secured, Ha and Hoa borrowed 3,000 taels of gold worth VND87 billion (US$4.3 million) at current prices and VND18 billion ($920,000) from the Cho Lon branch of the Viet Nam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, or Agribank, this time by bribing bank officials.

They did not repay the loan.

Nguyen Cong Dinh of the bank's credit department was sentenced to seven years in jail for bribery. Tran Van Tuyen, former director of the branch, and Luu Thi Minh Hien, head of the credit office, got 12 and 10 years for violating banking rules.

Also convicted was former director of the District 12-based Danh Khoa Company, Dang Cong Danh, who got eight years' imprisonment for acting as a go-between between the couple and the district officials.

Tran Van Te, former leader of Dong Thanh Commune, got 13 years for abuse of power. Duong Minh Trung, former head of the district's Planning, Finance and Investment Unit, got seven years. — VNS

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Ex-official faces bribery charge in Japanese graft case

Vietnamese investigators are seeking bribery charges against a former senior official in a scandalous graft case related to a Japanese ODA-funded project, an official said Thursday.

Huynh Ngoc Si, former head of the East-West Highway in Ho Chi Minh City, accepted US$262,000 in bribes from Tokyo-based Pacific Consultants International (PCI) in 2003 to help the company win contracts under the project, according to Pham Quy Ngo, chief of the Ministry of Public Security’s Police General Department.

Vietnam began looking into the case in December, 2008 after four former PCI executives said they gave Si $2.6 million in bribes in a quid pro quo bid to secure contracts.

According to Tuoi Tre newspaper, Si will face further charges, once the Ministry of Public Security concluded on further allegations from former PCI executives’ that they bribed him on six additional occaisions--apart from the alleged $262,000.

Investigators in Vietnam are currently awaiting more information from Japanese authorities with whom they are cooperating on the case, it said.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s investigators sought the charge against Si, because the deadline for the investigation has ended, according to the news source.

The accusations were made on November 11, 2008 as PCI leaders stood trial in Tokyo for violations of the Unfair Competition Prevention Law, which prohibits the bribing of foreign government officials.

Japan later prosecuted the officials for offering $820,000 in bribes.

The scandal led Tokyo to temporarily suspend official development assistance (ODA) loans to Vietnam in December the same year. They resumed in February.

However, it was only after 3,050 pages of materials received from the Japanese agency were translated that authorities placed Si under investigation in January.

Si, former vice director of HCMC Department of Transport is now serving six-year jail term for “abuse of power” for illegally leasing office space to PCI from August 2001 and November 2002 and pocketing VND1.2 billion (current $62,959) from the agreement.

In September 2009, Si was sentanced to three years in jail.

Following an appeal heard by the HCMC Supreme People’s Court in March, Si's sentence was doubled.

Si’s subordinate Le Qua was sentenced to five years in prison on the same charges.

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