Financial irregularities at VCCI Nghe An?

(Baonghean) - At the end of March 2015, Nghe An Newspaper received a petition from a citizen requesting clarification of financial irregularities at the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Nghe An (VCCI Nghe An).

VCCI Nghe An Office at No. 1 - Lenin Avenue.

According to the petition: VCCI Nghe An is an enterprise association with the function and duty to represent and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the business community and employers; organize training in many forms to develop human resources for businesses, help businesses improve their knowledge and business management capacity... However, in recent times, especially in 2014, VCCI Nghe An has had many irregularities and lack of transparency in financial management because the Head of Internal Administration Department, who is also in charge of accounting, together with officers in charge of training projects from the budget, have created many "fake" files to embezzle the budget. Attached to the petition are many photocopied documents of seminars, conferences, and training sessions that are shown to have been chaired and implemented by VCCI Nghe An, along with economic contracts, invoices, payment orders, payment and settlement documents.

To verify the origin of the documents, through work, the petitioner provided all the photos that were copied from the original. He said: "I have worked for many years at VCCI Nghe An, so I always want my unit to develop in accordance with its functions and tasks, and have a healthy working environment. Realizing that the acts of creating fake documents to withdraw budget money repeatedly have caused negative impacts, created dissatisfaction among the agency's staff, reduced prestige and work efficiency, and in addition, the rights of members were deprived, so I forwarded this information to Nghe An Newspaper...".

Among the many documents provided, we especially note the documents on the Conference "Tax - Customs Dialogue with Enterprises in Nghe An Province in 2014" which was organized by VCCI on August 12, 2014 at Hoa Phuong Do Hotel (Hung Binh Ward, Vinh City) with the aim of removing some difficulties and obstacles that enterprises encounter in the process of transacting with the Tax and Customs sectors.

According to the report sent to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the conference was attended by provincial leaders, leaders of the Customs Department, representatives of the Tax sector and many departments, branches and many businesses in the area, press agencies and "thanks to careful preparation, the conference was very successful". According to the detailed list of payment documents by bank transfer; economic contracts with Hoa Phuong Do Hotel (rental of hall, projector equipment, refreshments during breaks, parking, marketing printing, fresh flowers), Tuan Tuyet Company Limited (printing documents, stationery, photos, invitations...), VCCI Nghe An spent 36,630,000 VND on the conference. Of which, 29,130,000 VND came from the state budget; 7,500,000 VND was self-funded.

Reports and invoices of the conference documents "Dialogue between Tax - Customs Sector and Enterprises in Nghe An Province in 2014".

Following the list of guests attending the conference, we were surprised to hear from some business leaders that they had never been to Hoa Phuong Do Hotel, let alone attended the Conference "Tax - Customs Dialogue with Enterprises in Nghe An Province in 2014". A director of a business specializing in new urban construction affirmed: "Our industry often deals with functional agencies, especially tax agencies. I remember attending a dialogue conference with the Tax sector in 2014, although I don't remember which unit organized it, but it was at Giao Te Hotel...".

According to Mr. Le Duc Hai, Director of Giao Te Hotel, every year the Provincial People's Committee organizes a dialogue conference between the Tax and Customs sectors with enterprises in the province, and the province has the right to choose a suitable location to hold the conference. Giao Te Hotel in particular has been honored to be chosen by the Provincial People's Committee as the venue for this conference for 6-7 consecutive years. According to the records kept at Giao Te Hotel, the Conference "Dialogue between the Tax and Customs sectors with enterprises in Nghe An province in 2014" was organized by the Provincial People's Committee on the morning of August 11, 2014; the conference was chaired by Mr. Nguyen Xuan Duong, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and all Vice Chairmen of the Provincial People's Committee. Mr. Le Duc Hai affirmed: "In the province, there have never been 2 conferences "Dialogue between the Tax and Customs sectors with enterprises in Nghe An province in 2014"...

In the report of the Conference "Dialogue of Tax - Customs with enterprises in Nghe An province in 2014" sent by VCCI Nghe An to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, it stated: "Comrade Le Xuan Dai, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, attended the conference...", so we looked into the work schedule of Comrade Le Xuan Dai on August 12, 2014. According to the August 2014 Work Program of the Provincial People's Committee (currently stored at the Nghe An Provincial Electronic Information Portal), on the morning of August 12, the Provincial People's Committee held a meeting of the Steering Committee to promote reform of the provincial civil service and civil servant regime at the Provincial People's Committee Office, chaired by Comrades Nguyen Xuan Duong, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, and Le Xuan Dai, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; on the afternoon of August 12, also at the Provincial People's Committee Office, Comrade Le Xuan Dai chaired a meeting of the Steering Committee on eliminating temporary housing for lonely elderly people. Also according to the August 2014 Work Program of the Provincial People's Committee, on the morning of August 11, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and related Vice Chairmen attended the Dialogue Conference with enterprises; the Department of Planning and Investment was assigned to prepare, and the conference took place at Giao Te Hotel!.

At Hoa Phuong Do Hotel, when we asked to clarify the information stated in the Economic Contract, invoice documents between this unit and VCCI Nghe An, the hotel accountant gave the reason that the hotel director (Ms. Nguyen Thi Sam - PV) had quit her job due to illness; the new director was on a business trip far away...

At the VCCI Nghe An Office, we worked with representatives of this unit, Mr. Doan Duy Khuong, Head of the Representative Office, and Mr. Phan Duy Hung, Head of the Professional and External Affairs Department. When asked about the signatures on the documents, Mr. Phan Duy Hung replied: "That is a fake signature, not his signature". Regarding the information Mr. Hung provided, according to Mr. Doan Duy Khuong, it is necessary to clarify whether the documents and documents are real or not (?!). Mr. Doan Duy Khuong said: "Because he works concurrently, he cannot closely follow the activities of VCCI Nghe An. Therefore, there may be errors, we will meet to clarify and then respond...". The next appointment did not take place because Mr. Khuong was on a business trip; and Mr. Hung explained over the phone: "The agency has regulations on speaking, so I cannot say anything without the leader's opinion. However, I think whoever makes a mistake must take responsibility...".

As mentioned above, the petitioner provided many documents which, according to him, were "fake" documents to embezzle budget funds at VCCI Nghe An. Through verifying the documents of the Conference "Dialogue between Tax - Customs sector and enterprises in Nghe An province in 2014", VCCI Nghe An is showing signs of irregularities in the financial sector. This matter needs to be investigated and clarified by the authorities.

PV Group