Vietnamese police have proposed that the central procuracy prosecute six ex-railway officials who had been found sharing a total of US$500,000 in kickbacks from a Japanese consultant firm in relation to an ODA-funded railway project in Hanoi from 2009 to 2014.

>> Japan asks Vietnam to repay aid to graft-hit railway project The Ministry of Public Security’s investigation police agency on Thursday said it had completed the investigation into the notorious graft and transferred the case file to the Supreme People’s Procuracy for prosecution of the defendants involved. Accordingly, the ex-railway officials facing prosecution include Tran Quoc Dong, 51, former deputy general director of the state-owned Vietnam Railways Corporation (VRC) and ex-director of the Railway Project Management Unit (RPMU) under the VRC; Pham Hai Bang, 46, Pham Quang Duy, 40, Tran Van Luc, 57, and Nguyen Van Hieu, 53, all ex-directors of the RPMU; and Nguyen Nam Thai, 38, former head of the RPMU’s Project Office 3.  All six defendants have been charged with “abusing positions and powers while performing official duties,” investigators said.  They have been found sharing a total of VND11 billion ($504,350 now) paid in kickbacks by Japan Transportation Consultants, Inc. (JTC) at different times from September 2009 to February 2014, the investigation agency said. The Japanese firm offered the kickbacks to the Vietnamese railway officials in exchange for it being selected as a technical consulting contractor for phase 1 of the Yen Vien-Ngoc Hoi railway line, part of the Hanoi urban railway project, investigators said. According to the investigation agency, Bang assigned Duy and Thai to receive the under-the-table money from the JTC.

Of the amount, Bang kept VND4.8 billion ($220,000), Thai pocketed VND3.4 billion and Duy collected VND2.8 billion, investigators said. The three ex-officials said they had spent the amounts on expenses related to signing contracts, entertainment, external activities, meetings, vacation trips for railway staff, and others, but they failed to provide any supporting documents, according to investigators.

Bang told the investigation agency that he gave VND100 million ($4,600) to Luc, VND50 million to Hieu and VND30 million to Dong, using the above bribe. After his arrest, Bang volunteered to submit VND970 million ($44,500) and two savings account books worth over VND900 million as a remedy for his offense in the graft, investigators said. The graft scandal was uncovered on March 20, 2014 when Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported that Tamio Kakinuma, JTC’s then-president, admitted his company had paid ¥80 million (then $782,640) in kickbacks in return for an ODA project order worth ¥4.2 billion ($41,088,600) in Vietnam. In early May 2014, the above six Vietnamese railway officials were arrested for their involvement in the bribery.

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