VN news (July 16)

[Dam Son <son@fermi.phys.washington.edu>]

Vietnamese police opens hotline for victims of fraud 
Do Muoi Leaves for Yunnan 
Vietnam Sets up Independent Drugs Squad 
Cheating Reported Ahead of Vietnam Elections 
Two Vietnamese receive death sentence for terrorism 
Slouching towards democracy: Vietnam elections promise few surprises
Hun Sen's coup raises suspicions about Vietnam

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Vietnamese police opens hotline for victims of fraud 

Hanoi (dpa) - The police department of Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam's largest
urban centre - opened a telephone hotline for companies and individuals
allegedly defrauded in the Minh Phung-EPCO case, the biggest fraud in
Vietnam to date.

The hotline is designed to guarantee legitimate interests of former business
partners of Minh Phung and EPCO companies, since the authorities are
going to auction the property of these two private firms, the official
in charge of the hotline told DPA Wednesday.

In March Vietnam's emerging private business suffered a blow, when Ho
Chi Minh City police arrested two high-profile entrepreneurs -Tang Minh
Phung and Luu Khuc Thin, EPCO's CEO. Both were accused of "misappropriating
socialist property", the offense which is subject to heavy penalties,
including capital punishment, according to Vietnamese penal code.

Until few months ago Minh Phung with its roughly ten thousand employees
was one of the largest textile and garment manufacturer in Vietnam. Tang
Minh Phung was also engaged in import-export and real estate deals, and
his empire was badly hit by the decline of property market in Ho Chi
Minh City.

To deal with the permanent shortage of cash, Tang Minh Phung reportedly
created a network of affiliate companies, which allegedly were used to
defraud bankers.

The officials said that Tang Minh Phung, owner of Minh Phung Co Ltd.,
and his affiliate company EPCO defrauded the state-owned Vietcombank,
which lost some 20 million dollars. Since March more than twenty people
have been arrested so far in connection with this scandal.

Last month Nguyen Van Ha, deputy director in charge of finance of Minh
Phung company was found strangled on the rooftop of state-owned bank
which his company owed a huge debt - the Industry and Commerce Bank (Incombank).

Some analysts argue that Minh Phung-Epco scandal may cause a major crisis
in Vietnam's emerging private banking sector, because bad debt, connected
with these two Ho Chi Minh City based companies, could amount to some
4.3 trillion dong (about 390 million dollars).

In recent months the confidence in Vietnam's banking system has been
shaken when several banks, including the country's largest state-owned
Vietcombank, defaulted on several letters of credit. The defaults demonstrated
the problems of local banks, which were suffering liquidity problems.

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Do Muoi Leaves for Yunnan 

BEIJING (July 16) XINHUA - Do Muoi, general secretary of the Vietnamese
Communist Party (VCP) Central Committee, left Beijing for southwest China's
Yunnan Province today to continue his five-day official visit.

Do is accompanied by Li Shuzheng, head of the International Department
of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee.

Prior to his departure, President Jiang Zemin said goodbye to Do at the
Diaoyutai State Guest House, where the Vietnamese Communist Party leader
stayed.

Do's entourage included Phan Van Khai, member of the Political Bureau
of the VCP Central Committee and deputy prime minister; Nguyen Manh Cam,
member of the Political Bureau of the VCP Central Committee and foreign
minister; Hong Ha, assistant to the general secretary of the VCP Central
Committee; and other Party and government officials.

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Vietnam Sets up Independent Drugs Squad 

HANOI, July 16 (Reuter) - Vietnam has set up an independent police department
to tackle a growing drugs problem highlighted by a recent heroin-trafficking
scandal involving security personnel.

Official media said on Wednesday that the "C17" department would be
responsible for combating narcotics and related crimes and advising the
country's police chief on how to involve the public in fighting drugs.

The move separates the country's drugs squad from the Economic Police,
one of several arms of the Ministry of Interior's central police department.

Interior Minister Le Minh Huong was quoted by the Communist Party daily
as saying that the degenerate behaviour of some officers had dented the
prestige and credibility of the police.

"In future we must be determined to overcome... shortcomings and remaining
problems, to dismiss and expel degenerate officers from our force,"
he told hundreds of officers who gathered to mark the 35th Tradition
Day of the Vietnam People's Police (VPP).

Eight people were sentenced to death and 14 to prison terms -- most for
life -- in May for for their part in a massive heroin-trafficking racket.

Half of the defendants were police officers or border guards, which turned
the case into a national scandal.

The courtroom drama also highlighted Vietnam's emerging role as a transit
route for heroin from remote, opium-poppy growing areas of neighbouring
Laos and Burma.

Drug experts say the country's moves over the past decade to open borders
long closed to the outside world, combined with rampant corruption, have
brought a bonanza for international dealers.

Despite Huong's criticism, media reports showed that the Tradition Day
meeting was more of a congratulatory affair.

Huong highlighted the force's "brilliant feats of arms" and Senior
Politburo member Nong Duc Manh was no less sparing in his praise.

"The VPP has displayed sustained zeal in improving their professional
skills and efficiency to maintain political stability, national security
and law enforcement, with most policemen proving to be loyal to the nation's
path to development and socialism..." he said.

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Cheating Reported Ahead of Vietnam Elections 

HANOI, July 16 (Reuter) - Vietnam is due to hold elections this weekend
for its parliament, or National Assembly, but cheating appeared to be
already under way on Wednesday as Hanoi officials were criticised for
telling people who to vote for.

A leading newspaper, the Lao Dong, said residents in Hanoi's central
Hai Ba Trung district had complained after being given "detailed instructions"
about candidates they should chose and those they should not.

Five people are contesting three seats in the constituency. They are
the city's mayor, a university dean, a bicycle factory owner, the director
of a former military garments factory and a scientist.

The paper did not say who the recommended candidates were. Sunday's elections
mark the end of a five-year term for the current 395-seat National Assembly,
which was voted into office in 1992 in polls marked by a near 100 percent
turnout.

The election was described at the time as the country's most democratic
to date. But officials say this weekend's election will push that process
further, albeit gradually.

Some 664 candidates are contesting 450 seats. Eleven are self-nominated,
112 are independents, but all are approved by the Fatherland Front --
an umbrella socio-political organisation that operates around the ruling
Communist Party.

Among them are a larger number of women than before and a greater number
of technocrats and academics.

But on the streets of the Vietnamese capital, evidence of preparation
for what amounts to elections for a parliament with no opposition, and
with limited powers, was subdued.

Total costs of the election, including campaign budgets, amount to around
$17,000, or just $25 per person. There were few flags or banners on city
streets. Interest in the streetside voting points, where photos and resumes
of candidates were on display, appeared low.

Political analysts say that despite the limitations, the elections may
serve to breathe new life into Vietnam's political establishment and
reform process after a lengthy period of indecision and introspection.

The National Assembly, once considered a rubber-stamp parliament, has
recently demonstrated its ability to challenge or debate government decisions.

In a surprise move last year, the assembly turned down a cabinet appointee
for the post of Transport Minister. While the result was the appointment
of an acting and unelected official, analysts say it is evidence that
the assembly is now flexing its muscle.

Vietnam's leadership triumvirate of Communist Party chief Do Muoi, President
Le Duc Anh and Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet are expected to vote, but none
is contesting assembly seats.

The new assembly is therefore constitutionally bound to appoint a new
prime minister and president at its first session,

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Two Vietnamese receive death sentence for terrorism 

HANOI, July 16 (AFP) - A court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced two men
to death on terrorism charges, three years after a grenade was thrown
into a crowd of people, a local official said on Wednesday.

Huynh Te Cam and Tran Van Thuan were found guilty of the grenade attack
which injured 17 people including seven Chinese businessmen and a Taiwanese
man on October 1994.

The victims, all of whom survived the grenade attack were standing on
Bach Dang Quai on the Saigon River in Ho Chi Minh City after a tourist
cruise.

The two men allegedly belong to an organisation called the "Vietnam Resistance
Front for Regime Restoration," a terrorist group which recruited members
from overseas Vietnamese, police said.

The attack was designed to frighten foreign tourists and investors as
well as destabilize Vietnam, police said.

The Vietnamese press said the attack came in the wake of other infiltrations
by the group which had brought explosives into the country and circulated
anti government documents.

Three other people involved in the incident received life sentences on
Tuesday when the verdicts were announced.

The defendents, who were living in exile in Cambodia before they were
apprehended two years after the attack, have 15 days during which they
may file an appeal. People are rarely tried for terrorism in Vietnam,
and normally receive the death penalty.

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Slouching towards democracy: Vietnam elections promise few surprises

By Frederik Balfour

HANOI, July 16 (AFP) - Vietnamese voters go to the polls Sunday in general
elections aimed at producing a younger, better educated and possibly
more democratic national assembly -- but few surprises are expected for
the ruling Communist Party.

Of the 663 candidates contesting 450 seats for the next five-year National
Assembly, only 112 or 25 percent are not party members, and of them only
11 are independents.

National Assembly office chairman Vu Mao predicts that about 20 percent
of the elected deputies will be non-party, up from the current eight
percent.

Neither President Le Duc Anh nor Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet is seeking
reelection on July 20. Their replacements will be chosen by the new assembly
which must convene by September 20.

Eighty-year-old Communist Party supremo Do Muoi, who is also not standing,
is expected to keep the Communist Party general secretary job for several
more months.

In order to run candidates must first be vetted by the Vietnam Fatherland
Front, the party's umbrella group for mass organizations which ensures
their commitment to the "socialist fatherland" and good morals.

One communist candidate was forced to withdraw from the race earlier
this month after revelations of his adulterous relationships.

The 11 independents who made it through the rigorous screening process
is up from two in the previous election, neither of whom won a seat.

But while 112 candidates may be non-party "everybody has to be loyal
to the programme of the party," a European diplomat here said. "You can't
say that it has made mistakes and you would do things differently."

With the political stripes of the candidates carefully orchestrated,
the new assembly will be full of fresh faces. Less than a third of the
current deputies are seeking reelection.

This could mean a new body that is more likely to flex its muscles and
speak out, observers say, noting that toward the end of the current term
some deputies showed an independent will.

"The National Assembly has grown more as an institution in the last five
years than any other," said Bradley Babson, World Bank chief representative
to Vietnam.

"People are willing to speak out and be engaged in a national debate."

Others observers said the assembly has evolved from a rubber stamp legislature
to a body with a voice. Last year deputies rejected a ministerial appointment
and criticised the government for planning a multibillion dollar north-south
highway without consulting them first.

Nearly one third of the candidates are women. Nguyen Thi Phuong Minh,
vice president of Vietnam Women's Union said she hoped to see the women
account for at least 25 percent of the deputies, compared to 18.5 percent
elected in 1992, which is already higher than many western democracies.

Campaigning in Vietnam is a far cry from the political extravaganzas
associated with voting in other countries. But for the first time, candidates
are allowed to use the media -- all of which is state controlled -- to
air their views, with some showing considerable political savvy on the
stump.

Tran Thanh Tai, an independent candidate who is head of surgery at a
Ho Chi Minh City Hospital told the Saigon Giaiphong newspaper he would
"raise my voice to bring real interests to the public health industry
... to establish true equality of treatment."

Few candidates, however, have campaigned on television, the medium seen
in many western countries as the most powerful.

"They are frightened," said one Hanoi candidate. "It's too new for them."

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Hun Sen's coup raises suspicions about Vietnam
The Washington Times
07/15/97

Last week's power grab by Cambodian Second Prime Minister Hun Sen almost
immediately brought back memories of Vietnamese interference in the affairs
of its smaller neighbor on the Indochinese peninsula.

Suspicions of a Vietnamese role were sparked by the fact that Hun Sen,
who ran Cambodia during the 1978-88 Vietnamese occupation, visited Hanoi
just two weeks before he ousted his rival, First Prime Minister Prince
Norodom Ranariddh. But there is little solid evidence to back those suspicions.

The Vietnamese government and Hun Sen say the trip to Hanoi was merely
a vacation.

"During his stay in Vietnam, Mr. Hun Sen had no contacts with Vietnamese
leaders," Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement sent
to The Washington Times yesterday.

" Vietnam hopes that there will not be any statements or acts which would
undermine the friendly relations between Vietnam and Cambodia," the statement
said.

Asia watchers also believe that China, Vietnam's implacable foe during
its intervention in Cambodia, would have canceled a meeting yesterday
in Beijing with Do Muoi, chief of the Vietnamese Communist Party, if
it had suspected Vietnamese involvement in Hun Sen's putsch.

Nevertheless, the possibility cannot be dismissed, said Richard Fisher,
a Southeast Asian scholar at the Heritage Foundation.

The prince's father, King Norodom Sihanouk, declined yesterday to rule
out a Vietnamese role.

Asked at a Beijing news conference whether he thought Hun Sen's visit
to Hanoi was significant, the king said he has no CIA to "know the reality
of things."

If evidence were to emerge of Vietnamese involvement in ending the power-sharing
deal between Prince Ranariddh and Hun Sen, the aftershocks could be enormous.

All of the major Southeast Asian states lined up with one contending
group or another during Vietnam's decadelong occupation of Cambodia,
depending on whether they were more afraid of Vietnamese expansion or
Chinese influence.

In Washington, the Clinton administration signaled it was unwilling to
intervene to try to restore Prince Ranariddh to power.

State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said Hun Sen's forces "have
achieved a major military victory, and the question now is what will
he do with his new-found power."

Reports said U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia Kenneth Quinn met with Hun Sen
for two hours over the weekend and again urged him to end the killings
of Prince Ranariddh's supporters and to restore the coalition government
leading up to 1998 elections.

* This article is based in part on wire service reports

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