VietNam Society: southern province

Showing posts with label southern province. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

29 officials found using fake diplomas in southern province

29 officials found using fake diplomas in southern province Police in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu have found 29 local officials using fake high school graduate diplomas.

Most of the officials are in different agencies belonging to Hong Dan District, including the deputy chief of the district’s Party Committee inspectorate, local police said.

Tran Quoc Ky, chief of Hong Dan’s Party Committee’s inspectorate, said following the police’s findings, authorities have ordered that all the fake diplomas are revoked.

He said 14 officials under the committee’s management have been censured.

Others, meanwhile, are facing punishment being discussed by their party committees in different towns and communes, according to Ky.

Provincial police have placed five people: Do Hoang Em, chairman of Ninh Quoi A Commune’s Veterans Association, Ha Van Hoang, Duong Quoc Phong, Nguyen Thanh Phong and Dang Van Chien under investigation.

While Chien, the ring’s leader, is still at large, others have been arrested.

Initial investigations show that Em and Hoang were brokers for the others in selling fake diplomas to officials and students.

For each diploma, sold for between VND8-10 million (US$410-513), Em and Hoang were paid VND2-5 million ($102.6-256.5), police said, adding they found at least 43 fake diplomas have been sold to officials and students.

The trio then made fake diplomas with forged signatures of the director of the Department of Education and Training in Kien Giang province, although all the officials had registered to study at Hong Dan District’s Center of Continuing Education, according to police.

Further investigation in ongoing, police said.

The VnExpress news service cited the officials as saying they'd procured the diplomas in order to hold on to their positions.

It was not clear, however, whether their position was actually under threat because they did not possess high school diplomas.

Previously, 90 officials in the southern province of Long An and at least 59 officials and teachers in the southern province of Soc Trang were also found using fake high school diplomas.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Nine-month-old baby abused by mother

Police in the southern province of Dong Thap are investigating a case where a mother allegedly abused her nine-month-old daughter.

Initial reports show that Nguyen Thi Xuan Lan’s lover, 34-year-old Le Thanh Tam, and her parents, Tran Thi Hanh and Nguyen Van Kiet, also beat nine-month-old Nguyen Thi Nhu Y.

Y was brought to a local hospital with multiple injuries last Thursday (September 16) by health officials and police from Long Hau Commune in Lai Vung District, following a tip-off from locals.

A photo taken of Nguyen Thi Nhu Y at the hospital where she is still receiving treatment. Doctors say some of the wounds were caused by pressing hot objects to the skin.

The suspects said they beat the girl because she was a source of bad luck for the family. They believed that hitting her would drive any misfortune away, according to Tran Van Hung, chairman of the People’s Committee in Long Hau Commune.

The police have placed Tam in custody, Nguyen Hong Phi, a representative for Lai Vung District police said.

Tam was also accused of filming the abuse on his mobile phone which has been confiscated by police, Le Xuan Lang, the Lai Vung police chief said.

“It’s heart-wrenching to see images of the child being beaten and tortured in such a cruel manner,” Lang said.

Lang said police did not arrest Lan, 33, while she was taking care of her baby who is still receiving treatment at Dong Thap General Hospital. Vietnamese law states that any child under 36 months cannot be separated from its mother.

On Wednesday, however, it was found that Lan and her parents were still mistreating the baby, said Hung. Local authorities handed Y over to a neighbor and Lan was arrested the same day.

The parents are under investigation.

In the meantime, Dr. Nguyen Van Ve, chief of Trauma and Orthopedic Department, said while Y’s injuries are not life-threatening, they will require lengthy treatment.

The girl has bruises all over her body as well as three deep wounds to her left thigh and in the soles of her feet.

“We have concluded that the injuries must have been caused by pressing hot objects to the skin, causing it to burn and blister. The wounds are badly infected and so are difficult to treat,” he said.

In an interview with Thanh Nien, Hung said Lan had been married to two Taiwanese men and returned home pregnant from Taiwan early this year.

Three months after she gave birth to Y, she started a relationship with Tam, a local man in the neighborhood, according to Hung.

Kiet, meanwhile, said his daughter’s Taiwanese husband used to visit Lan six months ago before his family asked him to finish with her.

“The baby often cried and her mother would beat her with a wooden stick,” Kiet said.

Hung said Lan’s neighbors heard Y crying and the mother screaming and cursing since early this month. However, they didn’t know about the abuse, as the girl was kept inside the house at all times.

The neighbors alerted local authorities when they saw bruises on the girl’s body by chance.

This is the first case in the commune where a mother has abused her daughter in such a way, the chairman stressed.

The incident has provoked public outrage.

Health workers at Dong Thap General Hospital reported that hundreds of people, including other patients’ family members, flocked to Y’s room to confront Lan. As a result, mother and daughter were sent to a restricted area.

In May, the Vietnamese public was shocked and angered by a case of child torture in the southern province of Ca Mau where 14-year-old Nguyen Hoang Anh was repeatedly abused by his employers over the course of a year.

The married couple was later sentenced to 23 years in prison each for “deliberately injuring” and “torturing” Anh.