Vietnam’s Supreme People’s Procuracy has requested that Japan’s Justice Ministry provide official information on an alleged bribery case in which Japanese media reported that a Japanese firm had paid bribes worth over US$780,000 in Vietnam to win an order for a project using Japan’s official development assistance (ODA). In a document recently sent to Japanese Minister of Justice Sadakazu Tanigaki, head of the Vietnamese Supreme People’s Procuracy Nguyen Hoa Binh asked Japanese competent agencies to issue official information related to the allegation that Japan Transportation Consultants, Inc. (JTC) paid ¥80 million ($782,640) in kickbacks in return for an ODA project order worth ¥4.2 billion ($41,088,600) in Vietnam. In the document, Binh also pledged that his agency will closely coordinate with Japanese authorities in clarifying and handling the alleged bribery in accordance with applicable Vietnamese laws.  The graft allegation became known on March 21, when Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported that Tamio Kakinuma, JTC’s president, admitted his company had bribed civil servants in Vietnam, Indonesia and Uzbekistan with ¥130 million ($1,271,790) from February 2008 to February of this year to receive orders for five Japanese ODA-funded projects in these countries. According to Yomiuri Shimbun, the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau found illegal payments worth about ¥100 million made by JTC in the course of a tax inspection in 2013.   JTC was also discovered making further illegal payments worth about ¥30 million, around ¥10 million of which was paid after the tax inspection was conducted in April last year, Yomiuri Shimbun said. The Japanese newspaper also pointed out that “a senior official of an office responsible for project administration at Vietnam Railways [Corporation]” is among “five government employees” JTC “is believed to have paid the kickbacks to.”Vietnam’s actions Following this allegation, Vietnam suspended four railway officials and ordered them to write reports on their “responsibilities related to a project and JTC.” One of the suspended officials confirmed to Tuoi Tre on March 23 that the project is the one to construct the Yen Vien-Ngoc Hoi railway route in Hanoi, which uses Japanese ODA. On March 27, the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport set up a team to look into the alleged scandal. The team was comprised of eight members led by Nguyen Van Huyen, chief inspector of the ministry. A hotline, at (+84) 0986 093 979, was also set up the same day to receive information related to the alleged bribery case. Besides the four officials who were suspended, the ministry also asked ten more people – seven are incumbent officials and three are already retired – to submit reports about their possible involvement in the case. On March 25, the ministry issued a document to JTC requesting that the firm specify which Vietnamese railway official(s) allegedly received over US$780,000 in bribes. The same day, Deputy Transport Minister Nguyen Ngoc Dong left Vietnam for Japan to directly work with the Tokyo Tax Authority, the special investigation team of the Tokyo prosecutor’s office, and Yomiuri Shimbun. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh discussed the alleged graft with Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Fukada during a meeting in Hanoi last month. During that meeting, the deputy PM asked the Japanese side to provide Vietnam with detailed information soon. Minh affirmed then that the Vietnamese government was determined to vigorously investigate it in accordance with Vietnam’s applicable laws. Following the allegation, the Vietnam Railways Corporation reviewed the process of the implementation of the Yen Vien-Ngoc Hoi railway route project and has reported that it found no abnormal signs.

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