According to Vietnamese press reports this week, Huynh Ngoc Si of the Ho Chi Minh City Transport Department has been suspended for allegedly accepting bribes from Japanese businessmen.

The Ho Chi Minh City Communist Party Unit suspended Huynh Ngoc Si, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Transport, who has been named in a Japanese court case as the receiver of bribes said Vietnam’s Thanh Nien News.

According to Japanese media reports, prosecutors told a Tokyo court last week that Si, head of the East-West Highway and HCMC Water Environment project, accepted bribes from executives of Japan’s Pacific Consultants International (PCI).

Si stood down Wednesday while Vietnamese authorities investigate the allegations.

Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper on November 12 reported four former PCI executives – former President Masayoshi Taga, former Managing Director Kunio Takasu, former board director Haruo Sakashita and former Hanoi office chief Tsuneo Sakano – had pled guilty to bribery charges during a trial in a Tokyo District Court.

The newspaper said the men were charged with violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Law that bans Japanese citizens from bribing foreign government officials.

Prosecutors told the court on November 11 PCI had given Si more than US$2M from 2002 to 2006 for helping the company win the consulting contract, funded by official development assistance (ODA), the newspaper reported. However, prosecutors could only establish a criminal case for bribes totalling US$820,000 that were handed over in 2003 and 2006.

At the trial, former PCI President Takeya admitted the company had repeatedly bribed foreign government officials in other instances, Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told the National Assembly on 13 November a joint committee of Japanese and Vietnamese officials has been set up to probe the matter further and deal with it in accordance with Vietnamese laws.

At a press briefing on Tuesday, the Government Office also announced PM Dung had instructed the HCMC municipal administration to expedite their investigations.

Project problems

The VND9.8 trillion (US$581.6M) East-West Highway project, which will link District 1 to District 2, has been plagued by scandal in recent months. In August, the project hit the headlines after the Thu Thiem Tunnel developed technical problems, including cracks in pre-constructed tunnel sections.

At the time, the Construction Ministry’s Department of Construction Works Quality Appraisal head Le Quang Hung told the press that the management board of the East-West Highway and HCMC water environment project would be held accountable for the cracks.

The contractor, Japanese Obayashi Corporation, and its design consultant, PCI, would have to bear responsibility as well, Hung said.


THE EAST-WEST HIGHWAY PROJECT

Work on the VND9.8 trillion (US$581.6M) East-West Highway project, funded by Japanese official development assistance (ODA), commenced in 2005 and is expected to be finished in the first quarter of 2010. The prime minister approved the awarding of the contracts in 2004.

The 22km highway will span eight districts and aims to ease traffic congestion on major roads in the southern part of the city. It is also expected to meet rising demand for goods transported from HCMC ports to neighbouring provinces.

Of the total investment, the HCMC government has contributed VND3.5 trillion ($220M), while the remainder is financed by ODA loans from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

The East-West highway project comprises of two construction packages. The first package includes the 1.5km Thu Thiem Tunnel, which is being built by Japanese construction giant Obayashi Corporation.

The second package, also being built by Obayashi Corporation, includes construction of a new road network and expansion of 13km of canal-side road, which will lead to the tunnel portal in District 1.