Eleven officials suspended for alleged bribery at Tenma Vietnam

Hanoi (VNA) – Eleven Vietnamese officials involved in tax and post-customs clearance inspections at Tenma Vietnam have been suspended from work for being implicated in alleged bribery.

Tenma Vietnam is a subsidiary of Japan’s plastic product maker Tenma Corporation.

Pham Duc Thuong, former deputy head of the Tax Department of northern Bac Ninh province, is among the officials. He signed a decision dated August 2019 to establish a team to inspect Tenma Vietnam.

Four other officials are Nguyen Duc Tuan, head of the inspection team; Nguyen Duy Cu, Nguyen Thi Hoai Bien and Pham Thi Thanh Tam, members of the team.

They have been all suspended from work for 15 days starting from May 27, following the order of Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung.

Six other post-customs clearance officials of Bac Ninh province’s Customs Department were also suspended from work for 15 days starting from May 27.

They are Tran Thanh To, head of the provincial Customs Department, who signed the post-customs clearance decision; Duong Minh Khai, head of customs management team; Nguyêen Van Phuc, deputy head of expert division; Vu Quang Ha, head of expert team; Nguyen Luu Binh Troong, official of customs sub-department of Tien Son Port; and Nguyen Thi Hao, official of Bac Ninh Province Customs Department’s Office.

The case came into the spotlight when Japanese media including Asahi Shimbun newspaper, Kyodo news agency and Nikkei, reported that Tenma Vietnam gave a bribe of 25 million JPY (232,000 USD) to Vietnamese customs officials.

According to Asahi Shimbun, the Tokyo-based Tenma Corporation confessed to the Tokyo District Prosecutor.

Tenma Corporation reportedly took the initiative to set up a third-party committee to investigate the violation. Bribing foreign governments is a prohibited practice in Japan.

The Vietnamese finance minister requested the Vietnamese general departments of taxation and customs to report to the Ministry of Finance on recent allegations in Japanese media about the bribes paid by Tenma Vietnam to avoid paying corporate and value-added tax.

At the same time, he assigned the ministry's inspection agency to immediately set up an inspection team to examine the Tax Department and the Customs Department in Bac Ninh province, where Tenma Vietnam is located.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has ordered authorised agencies to inspect the case and impose strict penalties on those committing violations in order to create an equal, transparent business and investment climate./.