Sing Viet in bribery case

A Sing Viet City billboard seen at the forlorn undeveloped project site

The foreign investor had alleged the bribes had been used to facilitate procedures for the long-delayed project, which aims to build the township on more than 330 hectares in Le Minh Xuan commune of Binh Chanh district.

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee spokesman Vo Van Luan told the press late this March that the bribery claims required thorough investigations to show that the city’s investment certificate issuing process was above-board, thus protecting its investment environment against corruption allegations.

The project received the city’s approval in 1997, with the investor being a joint venture between Singaporean companies St. Martin’s Properties, Science & Engineering Investment, Techno Fibre and Integrated Engineering Services Pte Ltd and the city’s Binh Chanh Investment and Construction Company. The total investment capital was estimated to exceed $300 million.

However, the project had still failed to break ground 10 years later because the joint venture could not afford all the money for site clearance. Then the local company withdrew from the project.

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee adjusted the investment certificate for the project following the involvement of the wholly foreign-invested firm Sing-Viet City Limited Company as a new investor.

In November 2011, the administration issued another investment certificate for the project as St. Martin’s Properties, Science & Engineering Investment, and Techno Fibre withdrew to be replaced by Regional Connexion Limited.

In early December that year, the administration announced the second adjustment as the investor’s legal representative was changed from Singapore’s Chua Chye Leong Alan to Malaysian Chan Kong Tick. St. Martin’s Properties then lodged a lawsuit against the people’s committee and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Investment for making the adjustment, saying the decision had not been accepted by all member companies. St. Martin’s Properties demanded a cancellation of the adjustment, and compensation to it and the two other companies.

At a trial in July 2013, the city court rejected the request. In an appeal court in October 2013, the plaintiff provided the court with new documents, including papers that alleged the project developer paid $2.8 million in bribes to state officials in Hanoi to “lubricate” procedures for the project. The appeal court then overturned the first trial’s verdict, and set the date for another trial.

Now, the project site remains a forlorn location, located some distance from the National Highway 1 and the Road 10 in Le Minh Xuan commune. The only evidence of the project are some Sing-Viet City billboards.

Nguyen Duy Hanh, a vendor at the corner of Tran Dai Nghia and Mai Ba Huong roads, told VIR if the site had not been reserved for the project, it would have long-ago been used for housing and businesses. She added a majority of affected people there had received compensation for site clearance, but they had no idea when work would recommence. According to the local authorities, the construction of resettlement homes for the affected residents has been delayed for many years.