CG to smooth over PMU18

The unprecedented dialogue in Hanoi was chaired by Vice Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung just days before the mid-term meeting in government efforts to comfort international donors.
According to sources, the unscheduled meeting, the first of its kind since Vietnam resumed receiving international aid 13 years ago, aimed to demonstrate the government’s determination to tackle corruption on the heels of widespread corruption at PMU18.
Attendees included top diplomats and high-ranking representatives from international aid institutions.
“His main message [to the donors] was that the government recognises the PMU18 case is a serious problem and the government is taking actions to follow up PMU18 in strong and transparent way,” a source told Vietnam Investment Review.
According to the source, Dung said that the government was committed to conduct investigations on key investment projects and that they would also implement stronger anti-corruption law.
The meeting, chaired by Dung, possible next in line for Prime Minister, was a response to donors’ demands for information about the scandal. Until the dialogue, donors had been able to get information about the case only from local newspapers and several of them held unofficial meetings to inform each other on the case.
One western diplomat said he was very grateful that Dung had called the meeting with the donors, who “welcome that”.
“We were pleased with the meeting and we made clear that it is important that we can continue the discussion and that the government follows it with concrete actions,” the diplomat told VIR last week.
“He is very serious and shows the commitments of higher level government action to tackle corruption,” he added.
“It is important that actions are taken now. We have political backing but actions will be important over the coming months to rebuild the confidence of the international community,” the diplomat said.
The diplomat said he believed the government would tackle the scandal seriously because there would be a lot of new faces in Vietnam’s new government.
In parallel with Dung’s meeting, Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc was on a mission to Japan to explain PMU18 to Japanese ODA sources.

On a trip to Tokyo for the 12th Future of Asia Conference, Phuc met with several of Japan’s key officials, including the Finance Minister, the director of JBIC and the chairman of the Lower House Committee on ODA.

In the meetings, Phuc reaffirmed the government’s determination to tackle corruption and improve use of ODA from Japan, Vietnam’s largest donor.

“They highly appreciated the government’s strong commitments to fight against corruption and were satisfied with our mission’s explanation about the results of initial investigations of PMU18 corruption cases,” Phuc wrote in a post-trip report submitted to the government last week.

“The Japanese side also wants Vietnam to inform them about the final results as soon as possible.”

The PMU18 scandal broke just a month after international donors committed to give Vietnam record ODA of $3.74 billion in last December’s CG meeting.

Police had found that unit director Bui Tien Dung bet at least $2.6 million of ODA money on football matches in the English and Spanish Premier Leagues.

In addition, the Government Inspectorate discovered that tens of billions of dong were missing from several major construction projects managed by PMU18.

The project management unit is in charge of nearly VND33,000bn (nearly $2bn) in funds fund and currently manages nine JBIC projects, two World Bank projects and 12 government projects.

Investigators found that officials in the case possessed assets that they could only have purchased with hundreds of years worth of savings at their normal state salary.

Several government officials resigned or were arrested.

Pham Xuan Quac, head of police investigation mission “C14” confessed that he suffered “unbearable pressures” while pursuing the case. He also admitted that he would not have dared to tackle it if he were not retiring soon.

The scandal, the largest since Vietnam’s independence from France more than six decades ago, confounded both the government and international donors, as Vietnam had been praised for effective use of aid.

ODA commitments for Vietnam rose from $2.4bn in 2003 to $3.44bn in 2005, an increase of 40 per cent. From 2003 to 2005, around $1.53bn was disbursed yearly.



























































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The diplomat said he believed the government would tackle the scandal seriously because there would be a lot of faces in the Vietnam’s new government.
In parallel with Dung’s meeting, Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc had the same mission: to explain about PMU18 case and the government’s efforts to combat with the corruption with Japan.
In a currunt trip to Tokyo to attend the 12th international conference called “The future of Asia”, Phuc also met with several Japan’s key characters including finance minister, JBIC’s director and the chairman of the Lower House’s ODA Committee.
In the separate meetings, Phuc reaffirmed the government’s determinations in tackling corruption and improving usage of ODA funded by Japan, the largest donor of Vietnam.
“They highly apprecitated the government’s strong commitments to fight against corruptions and were satisfied with our mission’s explaination about the results of initial investigations of PMU18 corruption cases,” Phuc wrote in a post-trip report submitted to the government last week.
“The Japanese side also wants Vietnam to inform them about the final results as soon as possible,”
The PMU18 corruption scandal burst out just a month after the international donors were committed to give Vietnam a record ODA commitments of $3.74billion in last December’s CG meeting.
The police had found the unit’s director Bui Tien Dung bet at least $2.6million in football matches in English and Spanish Premier Leagues.
In addition, the Government Inspectorate uncovered that tens of billions of dong were leaked and corrupted from several major construction projects managed by PMU18.
PMU18, which is assigned to manage near VND33,000 billions [near $2 billion] worth fund are currently managing 9 JBIC-financed projects, 2 WB-financed projects, and other 12 Gov-financed projects.
The police found that the people concerned to the case owned many valueable assets that they could only have with savings of their normal state-paid salary accumulated in hundreds of years.
As the result, several government members had to resign or arrested.
Pham Xuan Quac, head of the police investigation mission of C14 confessed he suffered from “unbearable pressures” while dealing with the case.
Quac also admitted he would not have dared to tackle to case, if he would not retire soon.
The scandal, which was considered the largest one since Vietnam’s independence more than 6 decades ago, confused both the government and international donors, as Vietnam has been praised as one of the most effective aid receipient countries in the world.
ODA commitments for Vietnam increased to $3.44billion in 2005 from $2.4 billion in 2003, an increase of 40 per cent. During 2003-2005, around $1.53billion was disbursed every year.




No. 764/June 5-11, 2006