Police in HCM City detained Huynh Ngoc Sy, a senior transport official, on suspicion of receiving bribes from Tokyo-based Pacific Consultants International for infrastructure projects backed by Japanese aid money, said the online VNExpress.

A government Web site said both Sy, who had been suspended late last year, and his deputy have been sent to Hanoi where they will be charged with abuse of power.

In late January a Japanese court fined Pacific Consultants International more than US$770,000.

It also gave suspended sentences to three former senior employees, who had admitted having bribed Sy with up to US$820,000, Japanese media said.

When news of the alleged corruption broke, Japan, Vietnam's biggest donor, suspended part of its official development assistance to the country.

In December, it suspended all new low-interest loans, urging Hanoi to launch a probe and to take effective measures to fight bribe-takers.

On Monday, Vietnam's prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung promised to look into the case and called for Japan to resume the loans, according to Vietnamese State Television channel VTV.

Agence France Presse - February 13, 2009