The Ministry of Transport (MoT) has not received any officialinformation relating to news reports that steelmaker POSCO Engineeringand Construction (E&C) of the Republic of Korea was implicated inthe creation of a slush fund in a construction project in Vietnam,Deputy Transport Minister Nguyen Hong Truong has said.
Talking tothe Vietnam News Agency reporter about the issue, the Deputy TransportMinister said the MoT only knew what the foreign media had reported.
RoKmedia and some Vietnamese newspapers have recently carried a number ofheadlines about the arrest of a former POSCO E&C executive. He issuspected to have created a slush fund to pay sub-constructors between2009 and 2012, when he was leading the Vietnam project as its overseasunit chief.
Deputy Minister Truong said that POSCO E&C was incharge of three construction packages of the Noi Bai-Lao CaiExpressway, which was funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Hesaid that all bids for the 1.2 billion USD expressway's eightconstruction packages, which were implemented between 2009 and 2014,were held following international regulations and supervised byinternational donors.
"All processes were implemented andinspected carefully. The State Inspectorate has also studied theprojects and is yet to find anything suspicious," he said.
TheMoT has not interfered into payment methods between the contractor andits sub-contractors given these are their rights, the Deputy Ministersaid.
He affirmed that the Vietnamese Government has paid special attention to the combat against corruption in State agencies.
TheMoT has asked the Vietnam Expressway Corporation, which was tasked toact as the Noi Bai-Lao Cai Expressway project developer and manager, tocheck all contracts and payment-related regulations involvingPOSCO-involved construction packages and make them available whenneeded.
Earlier, Korean media said a number of POSCO executivesmanaging construction units in the expressway project had established aslush fund worth about 200 billion VND by shaking hands with localsub-contractors to exaggerate construction cost during the 2009-2012period.-VNA
Talking tothe Vietnam News Agency reporter about the issue, the Deputy TransportMinister said the MoT only knew what the foreign media had reported.
RoKmedia and some Vietnamese newspapers have recently carried a number ofheadlines about the arrest of a former POSCO E&C executive. He issuspected to have created a slush fund to pay sub-constructors between2009 and 2012, when he was leading the Vietnam project as its overseasunit chief.
Deputy Minister Truong said that POSCO E&C was incharge of three construction packages of the Noi Bai-Lao CaiExpressway, which was funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Hesaid that all bids for the 1.2 billion USD expressway's eightconstruction packages, which were implemented between 2009 and 2014,were held following international regulations and supervised byinternational donors.
"All processes were implemented andinspected carefully. The State Inspectorate has also studied theprojects and is yet to find anything suspicious," he said.
TheMoT has not interfered into payment methods between the contractor andits sub-contractors given these are their rights, the Deputy Ministersaid.
He affirmed that the Vietnamese Government has paid special attention to the combat against corruption in State agencies.
TheMoT has asked the Vietnam Expressway Corporation, which was tasked toact as the Noi Bai-Lao Cai Expressway project developer and manager, tocheck all contracts and payment-related regulations involvingPOSCO-involved construction packages and make them available whenneeded.
Earlier, Korean media said a number of POSCO executivesmanaging construction units in the expressway project had established aslush fund worth about 200 billion VND by shaking hands with localsub-contractors to exaggerate construction cost during the 2009-2012period.-VNA
