Former Vietnamese deputy minister receives jail sentence

A Vietnamese court on Friday handed down a 14-year imprisonment sentence to former Vietnamese deputy trade minister Mai Van Dau for receiving bribery, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City also gave a sentence of 5 years in imprison for his son, Mai Thanh Hai, on charges of swindling, misappropriating property and counterfeiting documents, and jail terms ranging 1-17 years to 11 others involving in the ministry's garment quota scandal.

Dau, who was arrested in 2004, received bribes of 6,000 U.S. dollars from several garment and textile enterprises who asked for bigger amounts of export quotas than permissible level.

Hai, an official at the Trade Ministry's Import-Export Department, also received money from a local intermediary to ask for quotas for a garment exporter.

Vietnam exported textiles and garments worth 5.8 billion dollars, mainly to the United States and the European Union, in 2006, up 19.9 percent over 2005, according to the country's General Statistics Office.

Source: Xinhua