Huynh Ngoc Si (R) and Le Van Qua at their trial in Ho Chi Minh City Thursday

Prosecutors are seeking jail terms of five to six years each for two officials charged with illegally pocketing office rent from a Japanese firm working on Ho Chi Minh City’s largest infrastructure development.

Huynh Ngoc Si, former head of the East-West Highway and Water Environment project, and his former deputy Le Qua are accused of renting an office to Tokyo-based Pacific Consultants International (PCI) without reporting the lease in order to keep the money, according to the prosecutores’ indictment.

Under a contract with Housing Trade and Management Company, the project management board was not allowed to lease out the office.

Prosecutors argued their case at the official’s trial on Thursday.

Si and Qua have been officially charged with abuse of power. But Si and his attorneys said he was just guilty of “irresponsibility” and should be handed only a suspended sentence.

Si told the court that Qua had leased the office before seeking his approval.

Si said he just learned about the illegality of the deal several months later and asked Qua to cancel the contract. But he also admitted that he had “lacked determination” to halt the proceedings.

However, Qua said he had rented the office after receiving Si’s approval.

The indictment said Si and Qua used the Ho Chi Minh City office, supposedly reserved for work related to the roads project, “for their own personal gain.”

PCI allegedly paid a total of US$67,300 in “rent” for the office from August 2001 to November 2002, but Qua kept the money, dividing it with Si and other staffers, according to state prosecutors.

The other staff members don’t face any charges as they were unaware of the illegalities involved and have already returned the money they gained to the government, the indictment said.

The trial is expected to close Friday.

Article 281 of Vietnam’s Penal Code stipulates that those found guilty of abuse of power can be punished with a minimum suspended sentence of three years or a maximum prison term of 15 years, depending on the seriousness of the crime.

Si and Qua were arrested in February after a Japanese court convicted three PCI executives of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Law, which bans the bribing of foreign government officials.

The convicted Japanese executives were handed suspended sentences of 18 to 24 months.

The Japanese court ruled that PCI had given Si a total of $820,000 in kickbacks to secure consulting contracts on the East-West Highway and Water Environment project, which is funded with Japanese official development assistance (ODA).

Japan, Vietnam’s largest bilateral donor, resumed new aid loans to Vietnam in March after suspending them during the PCI scandal. The Vietnamese government has pledged to use the loans effectively.

Reported by Le Nga