[Vacets-local-dc] [VN: textile and garment quota scandal]

[Hai Tran]

From: http://www.bharattextile.com/newsitems/1991878
VIETNAM: Police investigates textile and garment quota scandal
Police have arrested at least nine people for allegedly forcing textile and garment companies to pay up to US$1 million to secure shipments to the United States, state-controlled media reported. 

Le Van Thang, 50, deputy director of the Ministry of Trade's Import and Export Department and staff member Bui Hong Minh, 33, were arrested in Hanoi on Wednesday for their alleged involvement in the scandal. Thang was in charge of deciding which companies were issued garment and textile quota allocations for goods exported to America. 

Last month, police arrested seven others, including executives of local garment companies, who allegedly acted as brokers in the scam, the Thanh Nien (Young People) reported Friday. 

The Saigon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon) newspaper quoted an unidentified trade ministry official as saying Thang and his associates allegedly received up to US$1 million (euro 820,000) from the companies in exchange for the quota allocations. 

The newspaper said police confiscated US$40,000 (euro 32,800), 100 million dong (US$6,400; euro 5,250) and documents, including a blank quota allocation signed by a high-ranking ministry official, during a search of his Ho Chi Minh City office. 

That official has not been implicated, but police are continuing to investigate. 

Last year, the U.S. imposed quotas of US$1.7 billion (euro 1.4 billion) a year on Vietnamese textiles and garments to curb a surge in imports. 

Source: Agencies.

September 22, 2004 (16 days ago) 

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