Vietnam's deputy trade minister ceases work after son's arrest
HANOI - Vietnam's deputy trade minister has stopped working after his son, an official in the same ministry, was arrested for allegedly taking a bribe in a scandal involving textile export quotas.
State newspaper Tuoi Tre reported Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen as saying his deputy, Mai Van Dau, had "temporarily stopped working" without formally offering his resignation.
"I haven't been able to decide yet who will replace him ... He has wanted to retire for a long time but we could not find anyone," Tuyen said.
On Thursday police detained Dau's son, an official in the trade ministry's import-export department, after allegations that he had taken a bribe from a US-South Korean-Vietnamese textile company.
State media said 32-year-old Mai Thanh Hai had allegedly received 510 million dong (32,000 dollars) in mid-2003 as part of a 1.5-billion-dong bribe negotiated by a middleman with the unidentified company for ensuring it would be allocated its desired export quota.
The textile sector is Vietnam's second biggest foreign exchange earner after crude oil. But clothing exports to the United States, its most important market, are capped by Washington.
The deputy director of the trade department and another official were arrested last month in the case. Seven Vietnamese businessmen and intermediaries have also been detained.
The government's reputation has been badly tarnished over the past year by a series of damaging graft scandals.
In June former agriculture minister Le Huy Ngo was sacked over a corruption case implicating a ministry-controlled company, whose director was sentenced to death.
The communist regime has vowed to punish corrupt officials within its ranks. But critics say the crackdown is highly selective and some high-ranking cadres have acquired de facto immunity from prosecution.
Agencce France Presse - October 02, 2004.
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