Provincial Party official discloses bribery

14:58' 23/04/2008 (GMT+7)
Mr. Vo Thanh Binh
VietNamNet Bridge – The Party Secretary of Ca Mau province, Vo Thanh Binh, held up VND100 million at a recent meeting of the Ca Mau Party Standing Committee, saying that this was a bribe someone had given to solicit a position in the local government. But he refused to name the briber, when and where he received it.
The local Party Standing Committee gathered on April 8-9 to arrange and appoint key personnel for state agencies under the People’s Committees and People’s Councils of Ca Mau province, Ca Mau city and districts.
According to a member of the Ca Mau Party Standing Committee, during that meeting, Binh said: “In the past two weeks, if I had received bribes for positions, it would have been more than VND1 billion (US$62,500).”
Many officials attending the meeting asked Binh to name the bribers and reject these people from the list of nominees for key positions but Binh didn’t reveal them, and the arrangement and appointment of key officials was conducted as planned.
“It is abnormal! The Party Secretary announces the case clearly before arranging personnel but he did not…,” said a member of the Ca Mau Party Standing Committee.
The local public asked Binh to denounce the bribers and reject them from local state agencies and make clear his relations with these people.
“Binh not naming the bribers shows his tolerance for corruption and it can harm the people’s trust,” said a retired man in Ca Mau province.
“Bribery to solicit positions is illegal. If Binh doesn’t make public the names of the solicitors, he should make clear what his relations with these bribers are,” said Ngo Minh Chanh, former member of the Ca Mau Party Committee, who is retired.
Nguyen Van Tiep, who is in charge of supervising anti-corruption activities in provinces and cities of the Central Anti-corruption Steering Committee, said he had heard of the case through the media but hadn’t received an official report. However, the Central Anti-corruption Steering Committee requested that Ca Mau verify and submit a report about the case.
“If the money is determined to be bribes, the case will be handled under the Anti-corruption Law,” Tiep said. According to Tiep, it is wrong if Binh knows the identities of the bribers but doesn’t expose their names.
This is the first reported case of solicitation for positions. Ca Mau is currently reorganising its state departments.
In a speech delivered at a National Assembly session, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, at that time a Deputy PM, said that there was a phenomenon that state officials use bribery to obtain positions, projects, etc. but these cases are rarely discovered.