Vietnamese railway officials imprisoned for receiving bribery

Six officials of Vietnamese railway sector have been sentenced imprisonment in a trial for "abusing power while on duty" Tuesday in Vietnam's capital Hanoi.

The officials earlier worked at Railway Project Management Unit (RPMU) under Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR).

They are Tran Quoc Dong (former deputy general director of VNR, former RPMU director), Tran Van Luc (former RPMU director), Nguyen Van Hieu (former RPMU director), Pham Hai Bang (former RPMU deputy director), Pham Quang Duy (former RPMU deputy director), and Nguyen Nam Thai (former RPMU project manager).

Accordingly, Hanoi People's Court sentenced Pham Hai Bang to 12-year imprisonment, Nguyen Nam Thai 11-year imprisonment and Pham Quang Duy 8 years 6 months of imprisonment.

Meanwhile, Tran Quoc Dong and Nguyen Van Hieu received 7 years and 6 months of imprisonment each, and Tran Van Luc 5 years and 6 months of imprisonment, reported Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA. All the six defendants were sentenced for the charge of "abusing power while on duty."

According to the indictment, in 2009, VNR signed a consultation contract with Japan Transportation Consultants, Inc. (JTC) over a project on construction of No. 1 urban railway route in Vietnam.

The six officials received some 11 billion Vietnamese dong (nearly 504,600 U.S. dollars) from JTC. Enditem