The PMU 18 scandal is a multi-million

dollar Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, U ...

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, in ...

scandal that involved accusations of

embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...

nepotism Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...

, and

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

at the

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

ese

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government age ...

(''Bộ Giao thông Vận tải'', GTVT) at the beginning of 2006. The scandal received extensive press coverage in Vietnam, a rarity in the

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...

. It generated a great public outcry in Vietnam and controversy in other countries and at organizations that provided

Official Development Assistance Official development assistance (ODA) is a category used by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to measure aid, foreign aid. The DAC first adopted the concept in ...

(ODA) to the country. Due to the scandal, Transport Minister Đào Đình Bình was forced to resign and his deputy was arrested. The scandal became a major issue leading up to the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, when the government leadership was being reviewed. In the aftermath of the scandal, the Vietnamese government clamped down on journalists reporting on the case. Two prominent journalists were tried and convicted of "abusing democratic freedoms" and propagating "false information". Two police officers involved in the case were also convicted of "disclosing work secrets".

PMU 18

Project Management Unit 18 (PMU-18) is a bureau within the transportation ministry for road construction and other infrastructure projects. It has a budget of 2 billion

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

, which includes funds from overseas donors, notably

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, the

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and the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

The scandal

In early January 2006, :vi:Bùi Tiến Dũng, Executive Director of PMU-18, was detained, and it was announced that 1.8 million dollars had been embezzled to gamble on

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

matches. He was also accused of using the payouts to pay for

prostitutes Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

. The police found files inside the unit's computers revealing that over 200 employees at the unit had participated in the gambling. He is also under investigation over the procurement of

luxury vehicle A luxury car is a car that provides increased levels of comfort, equipment, amenities, quality, performance, and associated status compared to moderately priced cars. The term is subjective and reflects both the qualities of the car and the ...

s for other government officials. Deputy Transport Minister Nguyễn Việt Tiến, a former head of PMU-18, was soon also detained and his home was searched. The scandal affected many high-ranking officials. It was revealed that Bùi Tiến Dũng attempted to bribe officials after his arrest. People in the Prime Minister's office were investigated and the General Secretary's son-in-law was also implicated. A vice chief of police was implicated and withdrew his name from the list of delegates to the National Congress. In early April 2006, Transport Minister Đào Đình Bình resigned, accepting responsibility for the embezzlement of millions of dollars of state money by his staff. This took place days before the opening of the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam. In March 2008, charges against Nguyễn Việt Tiến were dropped and his Communist Party membership was later reinstated.

Role of the press

The scandal is notable in that the press was initially allowed to report on the issue in great depth. Several years earlier, such topics were taboo in the Vietnamese press, as the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

keeps a tight grip on the media. Major newspapers openly ridiculed the officials involved and called for their resignations. Some observers attribute this to internal conflicts within the party between reformers and hardliners. Others see this as a normal occurrence before every National Congress and expect things to return to normal after the Congress ends. In mid-2007, police questioned dozens of journalists who covered the case for the sources of certain published information. In May 2008, two reporters were arrested for "abuse of power for personal gain" while reporting about the scandal. In addition, several senior police officers involved with the case, including the

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

in charge, were indicted for revealing certain information about the case to the press. The arrests unleashed a torrent of protests from journalists and bloggers in Vietnam, leading to a highly unusual confrontation between the state-controlled press and the communist government. However, several days later, the newspapers were silent on the topic, and newspapers that continued to report it reportedly received warnings from the authorities. In October, the journalists were convicted of "abusing democratic freedoms" and propagating "false informations" and the police officers were convicted of "disclosing work secret".

References

External links

Vietnam Communists meet in crisisCommunist debate grips VietnamVietnamese ministry hit by scandal
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