Vietnam PM fires head of state-owned telecom giant amid graft scandal
HANOI - Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has fired the head of the state-owned Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Corp (VNPT), a few days after police questioned him over a graft scandal.
"We have been told of this decision concerning Mr Vu Van Luan who has taken retirement. We'll decide soon when he will officially quit his post and who'll replace him," a VNPT official told AFP requesting anonymity.
The official however stopped short of linking the move to corruption allegations.
"He's already 60," the retirement age, he said Friday.
Official newspapers said Luan was fired after he was questioned by police over a case of illegal price fixing for some equipment. Luan was also implicated in other cases of corruption in two provinces.
Police had yet to decide whether to pass the case to prosecutors.
VNPT, a fast-growing behemoth, was last year shaken after state inspectors allegedly uncovered suspect contracts and tenders for equipment.
Their inquiry was part of an investigation that had also implicated Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Do Trung Ta.
However, an inter-ministerial inquiry ordered by the prime minister only uncovered management shortcomings but no major graft, according to state media reports at the time.
Vietnam's communist regime has vowed to punish corrupt officials in its ranks, but critics say the crackdown is highly selective and some high-ranking cadres have acquired de facto immunity from prosecution.
Agence France Presse - September 23, 2005.
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