.jpg)
The Supreme People’s Procuracy on Sept. 9 prosecuted Huynh Ngoc Si,
former director of the Management Board of the ODA-funded East-West
Avenue project in Ho Chi Minh City, on charges of “taking bribes”.
According to the procuracy’s indictment, Si took 262,000 USD 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 USD in exchange for the provision
of consultancy services for the East-West Avenue 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 Avenue 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 carrying out the East-West Avenue
and HCM City Water Environment Improvement project./.
