'Heavy' tasks await the new Inspector General

The conclusion of the inspection of licensing for VN Pharma, projects on Son Tra peninsula... is a job awaiting the new Inspector General.

Mr. Le Minh Khai - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of Bac Lieu Provincial Party Committee is the candidate introduced yesterday afternoon. If approved by the National Assembly, Mr. Khai, with the responsibility of head of the inspection sector, will have to manage general work related to many inspections that are of public interest.

Inspecting the billion-dollar Metro project in Hanoi.

The Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station Metro Project is a typical example of capital overruns and slow progress. Photo: Hung Thap

In mid-May 2017, the Government Inspectorate decided to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station urban railway project No. 3. The inspection agency's involvement was based on relevant legal regulations, the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, and the contents of citizens' denunciations.

In addition to the comprehensive inspection of the project, this agency also inspected the land acquisition and implementation of the Song Phuong eco-tourism service site investment project in Hoai Duc district. The direct inspection took place within 40 days. To date, the inspection has ended nearly three months, but the results have not been announced.

The Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station urban railway project started construction in September 2010. After two changes, the initial approved investment level from 783 million euros (about 22 trillion VND) has now increased to 36,000 billion VND. This mega-project is one of the typical examples of capital increase and slow progress. It was originally planned to be put into operation by 2017, but now the progress of many above-ground packages has only reached over 40%, underground stations have not been dug; the completion date may be delayed until 2021.

Inspect the licensing of VN Pharma.

At the end of September 2017, the Government Inspectorate delegation visited the Ministry of Health to announce the decision to inspect the licensing of import and circulation registration for 7 types of drugs produced by Helix Pharmaceuticals Inc., Canada; the winning of the bid to supply drugs to hospitals by VN Pharma Joint Stock Company before the incident occurred. The inspection will last for 60 days excluding holidays.

This inspection was announced in the context that VN Pharma Company was determined by the investigation agency to have falsified import documents for 9,300 boxes of H-Capita 500 mg cancer treatment medicine from the manufacturer Helix Pharmaceuticals Inc., Canada. This batch of medicine was licensed for import by the Drug Administration at the end of December 2013. This inspection also aims to determine the legality and the granting of import licenses for medicines by the Ministry of Health to VN Pharma Company...

In 2014, H-Capita won a bid at the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health at VND31,000 per pill, while the Department's planned price was VND66,000. The Ministry of Health pointed out that these drugs contained 97% of the active ingredient capecitabine, which was of poor quality, of unknown origin, and unusable for humans. Documents from the manufacturer Helix in the Capita import dossier were also determined to be fake by the investigation agency.

The case was then tried in mid-August, and former VN Pharma Chairman Nguyen Minh Hung was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The Ministry of Health affirmed that VN Pharma was licensed to import the H-Capita batch in accordance with regulations, due to the complete paperwork and documents that were forged in a sophisticated manner, so that at that time the Ministry's experts could not recognize them with the naked eye.

The case is currently in the appeal process.

Projects on Son Tra peninsula.

Panoramic view of Son Tra peninsula. Photo: Nguyen Dong

At the end of September, the Government Office conveyed Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh’s direction on inspecting law enforcement in construction investment projects on Son Tra Peninsula. These are construction investment projects that have been approved for investment and licensed by the Da Nang City People’s Committee from 2003 to the end of 2016.

Accordingly, the Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Government Inspectorate to preside over and coordinate with the Ministries of Natural Resources & Environment, Agriculture & Rural Development, Construction... to comprehensively inspect the compliance with legal regulations on land management and use, forest protection and development, environmental protection, and construction for these projects.

The Ministries are required to submit reports to the Prime Minister before March 31, 2018.

Son Tra Peninsula is about 10 km northeast of Da Nang city center, 4,400 hectares wide, and is the only natural forest ecosystem connected to the sea in Vietnam.

In November 2016, the Government approved the master plan for the development of Son Tra National Tourist Area, reducing the number of rooms from about 5,600 to only 1,600. By December 2012, the city had approved investment policies for 18 tourism and resort development projects in this peninsula area.

There are currently three projects that have been implemented in Son Tra; three other projects were partially implemented but then halted; one project is being implemented, the Tien Sa marine eco-resort (halted after the discovery of 40 unlicensed villa foundations); the remaining 11 projects have not been implemented.

After the planning was announced, the Da Nang Tourism Association sent a petition to the Prime Minister, expressing concern that Son Tra would be concreted by tourism projects; and recommended reviewing the planning in the direction of maintaining the current status quo (with about 300 rooms).

Inspection conclusion of the Coal and Minerals Group.

The inspection at the Vietnam National Coal - Mineral Industries Group began in August 2015. This is an inspection that lasted through two terms of the Government Inspector General Huynh Phong Tranh and Phan Van Sau.

To date, the authorities have not announced the inspection results. At a press conference in April, Mr. Ngo Van Khanh - Deputy Inspector General of the Government admitted the delay. However, he said: "In this inspection, there were many things that needed to be done immediately during the inspection process, but we have already done them. That is, any case with signs of criminal violations will be transferred to the investigation agency."

Also according to Mr. Khanh, after having the draft conclusion, the Government Inspectorate worked with the Coal and Minerals Group, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Ministry of Finance on "some very large contents but there are still different opinions on the application of legal documents".

"The inspection involves a very large scale of costs for the coal industry, so it is not possible to draw a simple conclusion right away," Mr. Khanh explained.

Inspecting the equitization of Vietnam Feature Film Studio.

Recently, the story of the equitization of Vietnam Feature Film Studio has caused controversy, when artists, who have devoted many years to this film studio, had heated arguments about how to behave with the new owner of the film studio, Vivaso Water Transport Corporation.

Faced with these controversies, the Government leaders assigned the Inspectorate to investigate. On October 13, the Government Inspectorate announced its decision to inspect Vietnam Feature Film Studio (from 2014 - the initial stage of the equitization process - until the establishment of Vietnam Feature Film Studio Investment and Development Joint Stock Company in June).

In addition to the above content, according to the 2017 plan, the Government Inspectorate will also undertake many large-scale inspections. In particular, this agency is responsible for coordinating with the State Bank to inspect credit and financial investment activities at financial institutions and commercial banks with high bad debt ratios and risks of losing capital and assets; inspecting the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Public Security and related units in land management and use, focusing on the conversion of land use from defense and security land to other purposes in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa...

According to VNE