- Vụ PCI: Quan chức Việt Nam tránh né được tội tham nhũng lớn, mà chỉ phải đối mặt với tội tham nhũng nhỏ (The Earth Times/Hãng thông tấn Đức DPA).
“…Vụ này rõ ràng là nhận hối lộ rồi, nhưng ông Sĩ lại bị truy tố và bị bắt vì ‘tội lạm dụng chức vụ quyền hạn,’ theo lời LS Cù Huy Hà Vũ, người từng tham gia bào chữa trong vụ PMU-18 … ‘Điều này phản ánh thực tế là một vài nhà lãnh đạo Việt Nam vẫn cố tránh nhìn thẳng vào sự thật.’ LS Vũ lưu ý rằng ông Sĩ là sui gia với ông Lê Thanh Hải, lãnh đạo Đảng Cộng sản của Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh và là ủy viên Bộ Chính trị đảng Cộng Sản Việt Nam …”
Vietnam official dodges major corruption charge, faces minor one
Author : DPA
Posted : Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:35:58 GMT
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/256309,vietnam-official-dodges-major-corruption-charge-faces-minor-one.html
Hanoi - A senior Vietnamese government official arrested last week after allegedly taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks on a Japanese development aid project is being charged with an unrelated lesser crime, police officials said Wednesday. Huynh Ngoc Si, former head of Ho Chi Minh City's East-West Highway Project, was arrested February 11. Japanese officials from the consulting firm Pacific Consultants International (PCI) have testified they paid Si 800,000 dollars in bribes between 2003 and 2006 in exchange for contracts on the highway project.
Several of the PCI officials have been sentenced to prison in Japan over the scandal.
But Vietnamese officials said they lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute Si for taking bribes. They have instead charged him with the lesser crime of "abuse of power," specifically of embezzling 24,000 dollars by leasing a government-owned building to PCI in 2001 and 2002 and pocketing the rent.
"We cannot charge him for bribery at this time, as the case is still under investigation," said General Pham Quy Ngo, chief of the Police Investigative Department of Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security.
Local media Wednesday quoted Ngo's vice chief, General Trieu Van Dat, as saying Si had not admitted receiving money from PCI officials.
Dat blamed Japanese authorities for providing insufficient assistance.
"Although Vietnamese authorities have asked the Japanese procuracy to transfer documents and evidence related to PCI officials' bribing of Huynh Ngoc Si, these have not been provided," Dat said. "If we have sufficient evidence to show that Si took a bribe, we will prosecute Si for bribery."
The PCI scandal prompted Japan, Vietnam's largest bilateral donor, to suspend all official development aid in December.
Si's arrest came while Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito was on a state visit to Vietnam last week.
Japanese officials said recently they are pleased with Vietnam's cooperation in the PCI case and are considering resuming aid in the next few months.
"This case is obviously about receiving bribes, but Si was prosecuted and arrested for 'abuse of power," said Cu Huy Ha Vu, who served as defence counsel in the PMU-18 case, a notorious Transportation Ministry corruption scandal in 2006. "This reflects the fact that some Vietnamese leaders are still trying to avoid looking at the truth."
Vu noted that Si is the brother-in-law of Le Thanh Hai, the head of Ho Chi Minh City's Communist Party and a member of Vietnam's Politburo.
Under Vietnam's Criminal Code, those found guilty of abuse of power face prison terms of between three and 15 years. If found guilty of receiving 300 million dong (18,000 dollars) or more, they can face 20 years to life in prison, or capital punishment.
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