Tran Van Truyen, Chief Inspector at the Government Inspectorate

The fact that 20 percent fewer cases of corruption have been reported this year compared to the same period in 2008 does not mean there is less corruption in Vietnam, a government inspector said Thursday.

“The Central Anti-Corruption Steering Committee said in a recent meeting that corruption still plagued many central and local agencies,” Truyen said.

Referring to corruption allegations leveled at the East-West Highway Project in Ho Chi Minh City last year, Truyen said investigators were translating and examining about 4,000 pages of documents in English and Japanese received from the Japanese government.

“A proper investigation takes a lot of time and effort. It’s not that we don’t want to solve the case quickly,” he said.

Huynh Ngoc Sy, deputy head of the HCMC Department of Transport, was arrested in February for having allegedly taken more than US$2 million in bribes from Japans’ Pacific Consultants International in exchange for helping the firm win consulting contracts on the highway project.

In preparation for the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party in 2011, Truyen said inspectors would focus on scrutinizing officials at all central and local agencies as well as on implementation of the government’s economic stimulus packages and policies.

Source: Thanh Nien, VNA