Vietnam suspends officials over Japan bribes

From New Straits Times

HANOI: Vietnam on Tuesday said it had suspended four railway officials following allegations a Japanese firm paid bribes to win a contract linked to a rail project for Hanoi.
Japan’s leading Yomiuri newspaper reported that the head of Japan  Transportation Consultants (JTC) admitted his company had paid kickbacks of 130  million yen ($1.3 million) to civil servants in Vietnam, Indonesia and  Uzbekistan to win work tied to projects funded by Japan’s Official Development  Assistance (ODA).
  

This picture taken on September 24, 2010 shows a train on Long Bien bridge crossing the Red River in Hanoi (AFP/File, Hoang Dinh Nam)

The report said Tamio Kakinuma, 65, told prosecutors in Tokyo last week  that among the illicit payments were 80 million yen paid to officials at  Vietnam Railways for a project worth 4.2 billion yen.
  
The scheme was for part of an overground rail link across Hanoi, partially  financed by the ODA.
 
Prosecutors were preparing to launch a criminal probe, the newspaper added,  while JTC said it had set up an internal committee to look into the claims.
  
In response Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong told  AFP Tuesday the four senior railway officials “are temporarily suspended from  their daily work to concentrate on clarifying their involvement in the project”  in Hanoi.
  
Vietnam and Japan “have agreed to… cooperate in our actions to quickly  solve the case”, Dong said.

Read the full story from New Straits Times.