Dao Dinh Binh has handed in his resignation to the premier, following a scandal of corruption charges levelled at many ministry employees. "I am responsible for what happened". State media have been clamouring for his resignation for days.
Hanoi (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Vietnam's transport minister has resigned amid a major corruption scandal in which public officials serving under him embezzled millions of dollars in state funds, state media said.
Senior public servants at the transport ministry's now notorious Project Management Unit (PMU) 18, which handles highways and other infrastructure projects, stole state funds, most of it from Japan and other donors.
"I am responsible for the negative affairs that occurred in PMU18 and in the construction sector in the transport ministry," minister Dao Dinh Binh said in a letter to Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, state newspapers and TV reported.
"I ask to resign as minister of transport and secretary of the committee of the party at the ministry," he said in a letter sent Monday to Khai and the communist party's elite 150-member central committee, state press said.
The resignation comes as the government is publicly cracking down on Vietnam's endemic official corruption weeks ahead of the ruling communist party's five-yearly congress that is likely to see a major cabinet reshuffle.
Officials at PMU 18 for years skimmed money off public construction projects and took kickbacks from lucrative state contracts.
The department's former director general, Bui Tien Dung, and several other officials were arrested in January. Deputy transport minister Nguyen Viet Tien was removed from office last Wednesday.
Binh had been under increasing pressure in recent days, with Khai and state media publicly calling for his resignation.