Four Japanese executives have already been brought to court in Japan and the HCMC government last month suspended Huynh Ngoc Si, who was overseeing the highway project, from his position as deputy director of the HCMC Department of Transport.

The ministry also said that it would investigate whether Si or anyone else involved in the project had accepted bribes.

Speaking with Thanh Nien Thursday, Khuat Van Nga, deputy head of the Supreme People’s Procuracy (SPP), Vietnam’s highest prosecution agency, also pledged the agency would keep its Japanese counterpart informed of the ongoing investigation.

Prosecutors told a Tokyo court last month that Si, who headed the HCMC East-West Highway and Water Environment project, had accepted bribes of US$820,000 in 2003 and 2006 from executives at PCI in exchange for helping the company win the consulting contract on the project, funded by Japanese official development assistance (ODA), according to Japanese media reports.

The Japanese court has yet to hand down its decision in the case filed against the four PCI executives.

Reported by Kap Thanh Long