PetroVietnam officials charged for corruption

Six former officials of the country?s state-owned fuel giant PetroVietnam and two accomplices are to face prosecution over alleged corruption and fraud in a oil rig living quarters construction deal.
The scandal centred around the construction of a US$17 million living quarters on a Vietsovpetro drilling rig in the Bach Ho (White Tiger) oil field offshore the country?s southern coast.
Duong Quoc Ha, former executive director of Vietsovpetro, a joint-venture between PetroVietnam and a Russia oil partner, and Nguyen Quang Thuong, ex PetroVietnam deputy chief executive, and six others, were accused of corruption involving the construction.
Thuong, as former chief executive of PTSC, a PetroVietnam subsidiary, signed a deal with Corall Institute of Ukraine, a Russian oil & gas facility constructor, to carry out the project for Vietsovpetro.
Police then found that the contract was completely bogus and that the living quarters were actually built by Interpet Vung Tau, a private Vietnamese company in the southern province of Ba Ria Vung Tau.
While carrying out the scheme, the suspected, including the executive board chair of Interpet Vung Tau, and the representative of Corall in Vietnam, embezzled overUS$2.1 million and misspent nearlyUS$3.5 million, prosecutors said.

 

Category: Legal