At a press conference last week, deputy chairman of the Government Office Nguyen Xuan Phuc announced that the Prime Minister had ordered all relevant bodies to bring their investigations to a close.
“The government is now awaiting the findings of the Ministry of Security’s investigative body about these four major cases. However, the Prime Minister has ordered that the people involved face appropriate charges,” Phuc said.
Many of the cases were clearly identified but Phuc said that corruption was always very complicated and that the competent bodies had been instructed to avoid injustice while punishing those responsible.
In the case of Project Management Unit (PMU) 18 at the Ministry of Transport, the investigations into gambling and organised gambling had been completed and the Prime Minister called on investigators to take the matter to court soon.
Further investigations into the actions of two high-ranking police officers were required, and the deputy director of Hanoi police major general Cao Ngoc Oanh would be strictly fined if found guilty of wrongdoings.
The second is the Rusalka case in Nha Trang, in which the investor misappropriated more than VND165 billion ($10.3 million).
The third case was the misappropriation of VND40bn ($2.5m) involving officials from 37 provincial post offices.
“The Prime Minister also asked the investigators to identify officials at the Finance Ministry’s Price Appraisal Centre who collaborated with Nguyen Lam Thai. The scheme involved fixing purchasing prices of post office equipment in order to skim funds,” Phuc said.
He announced that about VND26bn ($1.6m) had been recovered from disgraced officials so far.
The fourth case involved government inspector Luong Cao Khai, who had allegedly abused his position at the LPG Thi Vai gas pipeline and port warehouse project for personal gain.
The Prime Minister also asked the competent bodies to investigate the rumour that the current director of the Hanoi Police had used a PMU18 car, and instructed them to report to the government before the end of September.

Source: Vietnam Investment Review