Former Japanese executive accused of bribing Vietnamese official

Aug 5, 2008, 6:35 GMT

Tokyo - A former executive of a Japanese construction consultancy company was arrested on suspicion of bribing a Vietnamese official with about 300 million yen (2.78 million dollars), media reports said Tuesday.

Kunio Takasu, 65, a former managing director of Pacific Consultants International (PCI), was accused of bribing the head of the public works bureau of the Ho Chi Minh City government from 2003 to 2006, the Kyodo News Agency said, quoting investigators.

He had hoped to win a bid on a Japanese government-financed road project, the news agency said.

Takasu was arrested Monday along with three other former and current senior PCI officials on violation of Japanese anti-corruption laws that outlaw bribes for foreign public officials.

PCI won orders totaling 28.7 million dollars in 2001 and 2003 for consultancy services related to the highway project undertaken by the Ho Chi Minh City government and financed with Japanese development assistance, the investigators said.

The company, one of the largest in terms of business done on the Japanese government's overseas development aid projects, has a network of overseas offices in Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi, Islamabad, Colombo and Doha.