HCMC – Investigators at the HCMC Police Department yesterday, January 5, pressed charges against three officials at Vietnam Register’s Motor Vehicle Inspection Department over allegations that they had received bribes.
The three suspects are Tran Anh Quan, 60, acting head of the Motor Vehicle Inspection Department under Vietnam Register; Dang Tran Khanh, 47, deputy head of the department; and Pham Duc Ngoc, 57, an executive at the department.
The investigators searched their workplaces and residences in Hanoi and HCMC.
The arrests are the latest developments of the Ministry of Public Security’s (MPS) broader probe into bribe brokering, giving and taking, and falsifying documents found at multiple vehicle inspection centers in the country, including those in HCMC and some Mekong Delta provinces.
According to the MPS, its investigators are working hard to collect more evidence to serve this broader investigation.
The police nationwide over the past weeks have expanded a probe into violations in auto inspection and registration operations. The HCMC police alone searched 13 auto inspection and registration centers citywide and filed charges against 43 people suspected of wrongdoing.
They were found to have allegedly received bribes to overlook the technical breaches of of around 70,000 autos and make illicit gains of nearly VND10 billion.
In northern Vietnam, four deputy directors and one employee at the 98-06D auto inspection and registration center in Bac Giang Province were detained on January 4 for allegedly receiving bribes.
The police in the northern province of Bac Ninh also pressed charges against 14 officers of the 99-06D auto inspection and registration center for allegedly taking more than VND6.5 billion in bribes over three years.
