Top Vietnam policeman loses job in graft probe
HANOI - The head of Vietnam's police investigation unit has lost his job amid suspicion of involvement in a corruption scandal that has rocked the ruling Communist Party, a state-run newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The daily Tuoi Tre (Youth) said Police Major-General Cao Ngoc Oanh had been "relieved of his post" on Monday and would be re-assigned, the latest in a series of officials to be fired over the scandal at a big-budget road building unit. Oanh and a prosecutor had already been suspended from the investigation.
Allegations of bribery and gambling at the unit within the Transport Ministry led to the resignation in April of Transport Minister Dao Dinh Binh, who has yet to be replaced.
Last week, new Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung urged investigators to wrap up the probe in August so people accused of wrongdoing could be prosecuted.
Binh, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing himself, resigned just weeks before the five-yearly Communist Party Congress. His deputy was arrested and charged with involvement.
The director of the agency known as Project Management Unit 18 (PMU 18) was arrested and charged with betting $7 million on international football matches, angering ordinary citizens who are tired of corruption in the one-party state.
At the Congress, Communist Party leaders described corruption as "a threat to the existence of our regime" and vowed to do better at preventing and prosecuting graft.
Media reports said some of the money in the PMU 18 case might have been aid provided by Japan and the World Bank, both big donors to much-needed infrastructure development in the poor Southeast Asian country of 83 million people.
The World Bank and the Japanese government are investigating whether any of their aid was misused by the unit.
Reuters - July 11, 2006.
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