Vietnam health official suspended for award to polluter

Oct 29, 2009, 7:14 GMT

   Hanoi - Vietnam has suspended a senior official of the Food Hygiene and Safety Agency for granting an award for community health to a Taiwan company that polluted a river, an official said Thursday.

   Hoang Thuy Tien, the agency's deputy head, last week signed award certificates naming three products of the Vedan condiments company among the country's 'Top 100 Products for Community Health.' The award ceremony was broadcast live on national television.

   Last October, Taiwan-owned Vedan Vietnam was ordered to suspend operations and pay 7.7 million dollars in fines after inspectors found it had been illegally discharging wastewater through concealed pipes into the Thi Vai River since the mid-1990s. Environmental officials said the discharges decimated aquatic life in the river.

   'The Minister of Health has suspended (Tien) from work and asked him to make a report explaining the situation,' said Tran Quang Trung, chief inspector at the Vietnamese Ministry of Health.

   The news website VnExpress quoted Tien as saying he had signed the blank certificates before the awardees' names were filled in. He acknowledged having been mistaken in not checking the recipients beforehand.

   The local newspaper Tien Phong reported Monday that the awards committee, affiliated with the Ministry of Science and Technology, had demanded a 1,700-dollar fee from each recipient for organizational expenses.

   Local media have called for Vedan's prize to be revoked. On Wednesday, Vietnam's Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan told the online newspaper Vnexpress his ministry would recall Vedan's award soon.

   Vedan Vietnam remains involved in protracted compensation negotiations with farmers who live along the river. Earlier this year the company rejected a demand by the farmers' association for 34 million dollars.