Criminal proceedings taken against East-West avenue scandal

The construction site of the East-West avenue project.

VietNamNet Bridge - The Public Ministry’s investigative police force have decided to take legal action against the corruption case related to the East-West avenue project in HCM City.

The move aims to investigate whether Huynh Ngoc Si, former Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Transport and former Director of the East-West avenue management unit, took bribes from officials of the Japanese Pacific Consultants International (PCI) or not.

Four officials of the PCI declared that from 2002 to 2006, during the implementation of the East-West avenue project in HCM City, they gave more than $800,000 USD to Huynh Ngoc Si to win a consulting contract.

The four officials were prosecuted on August 25 for bribery and violating Japan’s Unhealthy Competition Prevention Law.

According to law experts, though PCI’s former officials were tried under Japanese laws, they will still have to take criminal responsibility under the Vietnamese Penal Code if Vietnamese procedural bodies obtain sufficient evidence of their bribes in Vietnam.

Information about the PCI corruption case from Japan has attracted great community concern from international donors and the public. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, on November 11, asked relevant Vietnamese agencies to cooperate with Japanese partners to investigate the case and punish violators under Vietnamese laws. On November 19, Huynh Ngoc Si was suspended for investigation.

At the Consultative Group Meeting 2008 in Hanoi last week, the Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam, Mitsuo Sakaba, said projects funded by Japanese ODA capital in the first half of the 2008 fiscal year were suspended because of PCI. Japan also did not pledge any new ODA grant for Vietnam until the Joint Committee for Corruption Prevention and Control takes necessary action.

PV