Friday, April 25, 2008

Bribes didn’t buy jobs, Ca Mau Party chief says

The Communist Party Chief of Ca Mau Province, who hit the headlines for refusing to name a post seeker who delivered a bribe to his home, has assured officials the briber was not promoted, a party inspector has said.
Nguyen Van Dam, a member of the Inspection Commission of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, told Thanh Nien Thursday the commission had met with Ca Mau Party Secretary Vo Thanh Binh to discuss the cash-for-promotion scandal.
On April 9, Binh handed VND100 million (US$6,300) to the local party committee at a meeting, claiming someone had attempted to bribe him to secure a good post in the local administration, which is undergoing a restructure.
Dam said Binh told him the briber was not included in the list of people nominated to new post positions.
Binh said he refused to publicly identify the briber because the issue was so “sensitive.” He said he wanted the leading local party members to unanimously work out how to deal with the case first.
Binh said he had rejected bribes totaling billions of dong (VND1 billion = $62,500) from people seeking top posts at state agencies after news of the impending restructure broke.
But in spite of increasing public pressure, Binh has refused to name names.

No comments: