PetroVietnam names and shames 43 high-level officials

May 24, 2004 | 18:03
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More than 40 top leaders from the state oil and gas giant PetroVietnam have been accused of ‘wrong-doings’ at four key projects, allegedly causing losses of hundreds of billions of dong.
PetroVietnam’s reprimand panel listed 43 officials who were found by state inspectors to be responsible for mistakes at four projects; a project to produce super-thin bazan fibre, a project to build the head-quarters of PetroVietnam Insurance Company and PetroVietnam Technical and Services Company, a project to set up Thi Vai LPG pipeline and depot and a project to produce two million cubic metres of gas per day.
Reprimanded officials include the former president Ngo Thuong San, former chairman of the board of directors Ho Sy Thoang and former deputy general director Nguyen Hiep. Other officials included directors, deputy directors and leaders at PetroVietnam’s subsidiaries and project management boards.
Last year, state inspectors were assigned to investigate the four projects which were allegedly the cause of multi-billion dong losses to the state budget.
Pham Quang Du, chairman of the board of directors told local media on the sidelines of the National Assembly meeting last week that state inspectors had clarified the total loss that relevant member companies of PetroVietnam and its relative officials would have to refund to the state budget. Du, however, confirmed that both state inspectors and the corporation’s reprimand panel had not found any sign of corruption. He explained that the losses were due to “procedural mistakes”.
“Some wrong-doings were made due to the fact that many regulations were not clear at the time we implemented the projects.
“Under the current regulations these were mistakes but we would not be wrong under previous regulations. We still propose the government reconsider the findings,” Du said.
Du also noted that all of these mistakes were made before the year 2000 when he was still a member of the board of directors.
In an official dispatch to the State Inspectorate and PetroVietnam earlier this month, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai agreed with state inspectors’ reports on PetroVietnam and asked the corporation to submit its proposal on reprimanding the officials involved.
The prime minister put a strong focus on the project to produce two million cubic metres a day, naming it as the country’s key project.
“This is a key national project but investment, design, construction and supervision units made a lot of mistakes and the wrong-doings should be fully considered and strictly disciplined,” the prime minister’s dispatch said.
Last year, PetroVietnam’s president Nguyen Xuan Nham was dismissed for his serious mistakes at the long-delayed $1.3 billion Dung Quat refinery.
Tran Ngoc Canh, PetroVietnam’s former vice president, was appointed the new president.
PetroVietnam is the country’s strongest corporation with more than 20 subsidiaries and management boards on key projects. It earned almost $5 billion in revenue and contributed $226 million to the state budget last year.

vir.com.vn

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