Si sentenced to life over corruption

HCMC – The HCMC People’s Court on Monday handed down a life sentence to Huynh Ngoc Si, ex-director of the East-West Highway and Water Environment project, as he was found guilty of taking US$262,000 in bribes from a Japanese contractor. Si, also former deputy director of the city’s Transport Department, took the bribes from officials of Japanese firm Pacific Consultants International (PCI) to award a contract for a supervision and consulting services package in the VND14-trillion project. Si is also serving a six-year jail term for graft conviction as he pocketed US$2,900 in office rent paid by PCI. The court also asked prosecutors to continue investigating the case to ascertain whether Si had taken more than US$2 million from PCI executives as earlier stated in their testimonies at Tokyo court. The HCMC court ordered Si to return the money, equivalent to VND5.9 billion based on the current exchange rate, and seized his two houses over graft charges, the Vietnam News Agency reports. The court said his act had caused serious consequences, affecting the country’s foreign investment attraction and credibility in managing Japan’s official development assistance (ODA). Japan, Vietnam’s biggest bilateral donor, resumed aid for Vietnam a year ago after suspending it at the height of the corruption scandal.