Vietnam television official accuses boss of corruption

Sep 8, 2010, 10:36 GMT

Hanoi - A state broadcasting employee said Wednesday he had filed a complaint with the country's Politburo accusing his director of cronyism, incompetence, and misappropriating thousands of dollars.

Nguyen Quoc Khanh, a financial department employee of Vietnam Television (VTV) accused station director Vu Van Hien of keeping 1.6 billion dong (82,000 dollars) in value-added taxes paid by contractors on three projects in 2001.

The 11-page complaint also charges Hien with mismanaging the construction of VTV's Japanese-funded production centre.

An official at the Japanese aid agency JICA confirmed that the centre, worth 40 billion yen (477 million dollars) and scheduled for completion in 2007, was still not in operation. Equipment purchased in 2005 has never been installed.

A representative of Hien's office said the director would not comment on the accusations.

Hien is a member of the Central Committee of Vietnam's Communist Party and of the country's National Assembly. On Tuesday, the government awarded him its Independence Medal Third Class at a ceremony marking VTV's 40th anniversary.

Khanh's complaint charges that Hien manipulated the company meeting that nominated him for the medal, ensuring that deputy director Tran Dang Tuan and other opponents would not be present.

Tuan resigned from VTV last month to join an independent cable television channel.

Khanh said that after he discovered Hien's misappropriation of funds in 2005, Hien assigned him to a dead-end job with no responsibilities.

'I am not afraid of being repressed any more, because he has repressed me for years,' Khanh said. 'I can't stand it anymore.'

He said the case demonstrated the need to relax the state monopoly on television broadcasting and open up to diverse media outlets.

Vietnam launched its first 24-hour news channel in August. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said its role involved 'serving the party's leadership and instruction and the state's management and execution, and meeting the people's needs for information.'