The head of a ferry in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and four other staffers were suspended on Friday pending investigation shortly after their corrupt act was exposed by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

The suspended include Nguyen Van Can, head of the Vam Cong ferry, his deputy Le Van Trung, head of the fee collection team Nguyen Ngoc Tho, and two employees, according to the management board of a local ferry cluster.

The Vam Cong ferry shuttles between the banks of the Hau River in the Mekong Delta, connecting the two provinces of Dong Thap and An Giang.

The management board of the ferry cluster oversees operations of Vam Cong and several other ferries in the locality.

The board’s suspension decision was made on the heels of a Tuoi Tre report, which said drivers would be illicitly allowed to use the preferential lane at the ferry after paying a “passage fee” of up to US$4.5 to ferry staffers.

Nguyen Thuan Phuong, head of the Road Management Department No. 4, met with the ferry cluster management board the same day and eventually confirmed that all the information related to the corruption exposed in the Tuoi Tre article is true.

Phuong said such a corruption case has taken place at the ferry for years, but the collection of ‘passage fee’ by ferry staffers was so well organized that it is hard to be detected.

“We thank Tuoi Tre for its efforts to expose this corruption case,” the official added.

As shown in the exposé article, one of the three traffic lanes at the ferry is the preferential one intended for people who need to enter the ferry first so that they can reach the other riverbank faster.

Under current regulations, vehicles that carry fresh food that may deteriorate or decay during transport also have the right to use the preferential lane.

However, as witnessed by Tuoi Tre correspondents, many vehicles that do not fall into this category were given priority after their drivers paid a “fee” of VND50,000-100,000 ($2.25-4.5) to the ferry employees who controlled traffic flow.

In fact, drivers can freely travel on the priority lane and later pay the fee to a ferry traffic controller before entering the ferry. 

Tuoi Tre also found that many people acted as brokers between drivers and ferry staffers to earn a part of the higher fee, up to VND300,000 ($13.4), which is negotiated between the intermediaries and drivers.

After viewing video clips and photos taken by Tuoi Tre correspondents showing the wrongdoings of some staffers at the ferry terminal, Le Huy Khanh, director of the Vam Cong ferry cluster, affirmed on Thursday that those employees have deliberately acted against ferry traffic rules to openly extort money from drivers.  

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