Friday, June 23, 2006
Vietnam Airlines' stewards forced to pay bribes for jobs
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
June 18, 2006 Sunday 8:24 AM EST
LENGTH: 358 words
HEADLINE: Vietnam Airlines' stewards forced to pay bribes for jobs
DATELINE: Hanoi
BODY:
Vietnamese police have arrested several Vietnam Airlines' officials for
an alleged scheme to charge prospective flight attendants up to 20,000
dollars to get hired, local newspapers reported Sunday.
The reports add to a growing scandal at the national carrier, including
the arrest in Australia of one of its co-pilots in Australia with more
than 500,000 dollars in suspected drug money and allegations of improper
contracts.
Saigon Giai Phong and Thanh Nien newspapers reported the investigation
into the jobs' scam Sunday, adding that charges against unnamed airline
officials - reportedly already under arrest - would not be announced
until an overall investigation into the airline is complete.
It was unclear why the flight-attendent job, which is prestigious but
low-paying, might be worth 20,000 dollars to applicants. However, in
2002, several Vietnamese flight attendants were arrested after being
found with thousands of dollars' worth of smuggled gold and mobile
phones.
Vietnamese police could not be contacted Sunday for comment.
Last week, a Vietnam Airlines co-pilot Tran Van Dang was arrested in
Sydney as he was waiting to board a flight after customs' agents
discovered he was carrying 560,000 dollars in undeclared cash.
Saigon Giai Phong reported this weekend that Australian authorities
suspect Dang is involved in the drug trade.
Last month, government inspectors also launched an investigation into
why medium-range engines were purchased for four long-range Boeing-777s
in 2002.
The mismatch meant that the planes could not fly to Europe or to the US.
As a result, Vietnam Airlines was forced to lease planes, at 400,000
dollars per month.
Inspectors also want to know why the lease fee rises to 800,000 dollars
per month after five years. Under normal circumstances, it should
decrease.
In June, company representatives admitted that Vietnam Airlines had been
paying for the children of 16 senior officials to attend expensive
foreign universities. Most were children of relatives of officials in
the justice and internal affairs ministries who had failed to get into
local universities.
