Three Vietnamese state inspectors receive bribes from petrol firms

Three officials of the Economic Inspection Department No. 2 under Vietnam's State Inspectorate received bribes of some 34,600 U.S. dollars in cash in the biggest wrongdoing case in the country's oil and gas industry, local newspaper Saigon Liberation reported Friday.

Initial investigation results show that the department's director Luong Cao Khai and two of his deputies, Duong Xuan Luc and Bui Xuan Bay, had received 16,500 dollars and 288 million Vietnamese dong (VND) (18,100 dollars), and a 600-square meter plot of land from some local enterprises, affiliated to the state- owned Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation.

In the 2001-2003 period, the three men were in charge of inspecting mismanagement of the enterprises' officials in constructing some petroleum works, which led to losses of state monies. They drafted inspection results, suggesting some corporate officials in charge of the works be held criminally responsible. However, in their official report, they no longer proposed that.

The newspaper quoted its source as saying that a director of an involved company gave bribes, including 3,000 dollars and 10 million VND (629 dollars) in cash, to the three men's superior, Deputy Chief State Inspector Tran Quoc Truong.

Local police detained Bay in February on the charge of "taking advantage of position and power while conducting official duty." In 2005, Khai and Luc were arrested for the same charge.

Crude oil is now Vietnam's biggest hard currency earner, fetching the country 4.2 billion dollars in the first half of this year. It exported nearly 18.1 million tons of the product valued at roughly 7.4 billion dollars last year.

Source: Xinhua