The October 5 news of the Voice of America (VOA) said, “US Department of Justice: Albemarle spends $3.5 million for lubrication in Vietnam; pays 6.5% commission.”
According to documents from the US Department of Justice, thanks to the brokerage of a Vietnamese intermediary company, the American Albemarle Company has a business relationship and contract with Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company and Nghi Son Refining and Petrochemical Company in the 2013-2017 period. Albemarle Company had to pay bribes to Vietnamese oil and gas officials, through an intermediary partner, with an amount of up to $3.5 million.
This is the result of an investigation by the US Department of Justice into the Albemarle company headquartered in North Carolina. The company has agreed to pay more than $218 million to settle allegations of bribery to officials at state-owned oil refineries in three countries: Vietnam, Indonesia and India.
A document dated September 28, 2023 from the US Department of Justice stated that Albemarle Company profited about $98.5 million from bribing petrochemical refineries in the above countries. Of which, $69.25 million was collected from Vietnam. At the same time, it was said that the intermediary partner in Vietnam was a company based in Vietnam, between 2012 and 2017.
This intermediary company has been hired as a broker by Albemarle Company, with a commission rate of 4.25%. But Albemarle has approved increasing the commission for this partner to 6.5%, due to having to spend more on Vietnamese Government officials “from low level to high level.”
In the negotiating emails about the commission amount between the Vietnamese intermediary representative and the Albemarle representative, the intermediary company promised to sign a long-term contract with Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company managed by PetroVietnam Group, but asked for increased commissions “to win the job” and said “the commission should rise to 10%.” After many negotiations, Albemarle agreed to increase the commission from 4.25% to 6.5%, although the Vietnamese intermediary company demanded to pay 7% or even 10% commission.
It is known that after that, Albemarle also used a Vietnamese intermediary company and its contacts to pay money to PetroVietnam officials, thereby winning business at Nghi Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited.
Some observers from Vietnam told Thoibao.de that the US Department of Justice’s findings on corruption at PetroVietnam, as well as at two large oil refineries Binh Son and Nghi Son, are just a few of the findings. There are countless cases of Vietnamese officials receiving bribes from foreign partners, but they have not been exposed. It is mandatory, as an unwritten law, that foreign investors who want to invest or win bids in Vietnam must pay a percentage kickback to officials in Vietnam.
On July 27, 2017, VOA reported that a British defense intelligence agency revealed that Vietnamese Government officials asked American partners to pay 25% commission for arms purchases between the two countries’ Ministries of Defense.
Information from a US defense source said that Vietnamese defense officials informed the US delegation, during a meeting in Hanoi, that kickbacks of arms sales must be a quarter of the total value. Also according to this source, the meeting “suddenly stopped” after the Vietnamese side made that request. US defense sources revealed this information at an IMDEX Maritime Defense Conference and Exhibition, held in Singapore in May 2017.
Paying commissions, “kickbacks” or “facilitation fees” etc. are very common in Vietnam. This is considered a disguised form of “bribery.” A survey on the provincial competitiveness index in 2016 by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry showed that about 66% of businesses in Vietnam had to pay “facilitation fees” to officials to facilitate business operations.
According to Transparency International, in 2022, Vietnam will have a corruption perception index of 42 out of 100 points, ranking 77 out of 180 countries, still among the countries with the most corruption.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
