The Deputy Minister of Transport, Nguyen Ngoc Dong, will be sent to Japan to check out a case of alleged bribery involving a Japanese firm and Vietnamese officials over an ODA project.

The director of the Department of International Cooperation, Pham Thanh Tung, and the deputy minister will go to Tokyo tonight, March 25, in order to gather more information about the case in which the Japan Transportation Consultants, Inc. (JTC) admitted to Yomiuri Shimbun Newspaper that they gave JPY80 million to Vietnamese railway officials to win a JPY4.2 billion urban railway contract.

The minister of transport, Dinh La Thang, asked Dong to work with Japanese authorities to find out the names of the Vietnamese officials who accepted bribes. The ministry has asked its Department of International Cooperation to send documents to the Japanese embassy for possible legal proceedings in getting the list.

On March 24, the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Transport, Nguyen Van Huyen, also asked JTC to provide the names of Vietnamese officials for further investigation. Meanwhile, the agencies that were involved in the project have been asked to verify their procedures and submit reports on individual responsibilities by March 26. Vietnam Railway must hand in a list of managers working on the project since 2008 so that the authorities can clear the case by March 31.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said that they only learned of the scandal through the media and are willing to cooperate with the Ministry of Transport for investigation.

Deputy Prime Minister, Pham Xuan Phuc, has assigned the Ministry of Public Security, the People's Supreme Court, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to collect information and carry begin prosecutions if any criminal activity was carried out. 

Four railway officials, all of them directors and deputy directors of Vietnam Railway's Project Management Unit, have been suspended.