In Vietnam, gangster trial shines harsh light on graft
HANOI - It's Watergate meets Bonnie and Clyde: a tale of murder,
gambling, prostitution and cops on the take -- with a reach that
extends close to the highest levels of government.
And depending on how you view it, the trial of Vietnam's most
notorious gangster is either proof of the Communist Party's
commitment to rooting out corruption -- or merely evidence of how
corrupt the party has become.
When the trial starts Tuesday in Ho Chi Minh City, Nam Cam will
lead a procession of 155 defendants, including 13 former police
officers, three former prosecutors and three high-ranking
Communist Party members accused of protecting him.
The case has threatened to erode the authority of the party, whose
only rival for power in this one-party state is itself. And when the
55-day spectacle draws to a close, Nam Cam and a dozen of his
confederates could be sent in front of the firing squad.
The trial's first and last day will be broadcast live on national
television -- and probably will draw millions of Vietnamese viewers
who regard corruption as one of the biggest blights on their quickly
modernizing country.
Ordinary Vietnamese confront petty corruption everywhere they
turn -- from teachers who charge money to place students at the
front of crowded classrooms to traffic cops happy to tear up a ticket
for a small sum.
That helps explain why some are less angry at the gangsters
accused of murder than they are at the officials accused of
protecting them.
``They are even worse than Nam Cam,'' said Phan Trung Thanh,
57, a Hanoi resident who plans to follow the trial closely. ``They
should have worked for the party and the people, but they were
attracted by the devil's money.''
High-ranking suspects
Three high-ranking party members -- including two members of the
powerful Central Committee -- are accused of accepting bribes or
gifts in exchange for keeping quiet about Nam Cam's allegedly
extensive criminal enterprises, which centered on illegal casinos in
Ho Chi Minh City.
Also among the 155 defendants are hit men accused of gunning
down a rival gang leader in a coffee shop and hacking up an honest
cop with machetes on a Saigon street.
Truong Van Cam, also known as Nam Cam, was born in Saigon in
1947. A former dockworker, he served in the South Vietnamese
army before establishing gambling rackets in his hometown. With
an eye for flashy suits and diamond-studded jewelry, he cut a
striking figure as he moved about town from his network of casinos
and karaoke bars to the several ornate mansions he built for his
family.
He has been in and out of jail and was most recently sentenced to
a three-year term on gambling charges in 1995. Some of the public
officials on trial in this case, including the former director of Voice of
Vietnam Radio, are accused of helping him get out one year before
his three-year sentence was over.
For the Communist Party, which routinely launches moralistic
campaigns against ``social evils'' such as gambling and
prostitution, the entire affair has been more than just
embarrassing.
``They've known for a long time that corruption could undermine
the legitimacy of the Communist Party,'' said Carl Thayer, a Vietnam
expert who teaches at the Australian Defence Force Academy.
``It's frightening to them. They have to act.''
Past corruption cases in Vietnam have involved financial crimes,
which have become more tempting to commit since Vietnam began
opening its economy in 1986. This is the first time that high-level
officials have been accused of consorting with gangsters.
Cleaning up
Communist Party officials say the prosecutions illustrate their
commitment to cleaning up corruption. Top leaders, from Prime
Minister Phan Van Khai to Party Chief Nong Duc Manh, regularly
state that creating a clean, responsive, open government is a top
priority.
``The party and the state of Vietnam are clearly aware of the
threat of corruption and consider it a national disaster,'' Phan Thuy
Thanh, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said last week.
``Those who cover up crime or guard criminals will be severely
punished,'' said Phan Xuan Bien, deputy director of the Culture and
Ideology Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Communist Party.
While many Western observers working in Vietnam think the
government's commitment is genuine, others question its depth.
``They talk a good game, but when it comes to implementation,
they don't have the political will to go the whole nine yards,'' said
one Western diplomat, noting that the government hasn't initiated
prosecutions in other parts of the country despite rumors of illegal
activity.
Transparency International, a non-profit group that surveys
executives about their perceptions of corruption, last year ranked
Vietnam the second-most corrupt nation in Southeast Asia, behind
Indonesia, and 16th-worst on a worldwide list of 102 countries.
Many observers attribute the corruption to the poverty that persists
in Vietnam, where per-capita income is about $420 a year. Many
government officials earn low wages, and they have a hard time
keeping up with the emerging entrepreneurial class, whose
members sometimes engage in conspicuous consumption.
``In cities in particular, bureaucrats on fixed incomes must be very
frustrated with the growing wealth disparities,'' said Zachary
Abuza, a professor at Simmons College in Boston and an expert on
Southeast Asia.
Various international donors, from the World Bank to the United
Nations to the U.S. Agency for International Development, are
funding an array of projects aimed at strengthening Vietnam's legal
system and making its government more open and responsive.
``Vietnam can't succeed economically unless it has clean, effective
government,'' said Jordan Ryan, the director of the U.N.
Development Program office in Vietnam.
The work of these groups, however important, will seem mundane
alongside the sordid spectacle that will unfold in Ho Chi Minh City
this week.
Restoring faith
Communist officials view the proceedings as an excruciating but
necessary step toward restoring the people's faith. And so they are
letting a media horde worthy of the O.J. Simpson trial descend on
the courthouse, where they will watch the trial on closed-circuit
television because the court is too small to accommodate them.
As the government tries to prove its determination to eliminate
graft, it could expose itself to a backlash from appalled citizens, said
Karl Anders Larsson, a counselor at the Swedish Embassy who is
helping coordinate a study of corruption in Vietnam -- at the
request of the Communist Party.
``This case is potentially very dangerous to the government,''
Larsson said.
By Ben Stocking - The Mercury News - February 24, 2003.
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