2006年VOA标准英语-World Bank, Britain Investigate Possible F

By Matt Steinglass
Hanoi
06 April 2006

The World Bank and Britain will send a team of investigators¹ to Vietnam next month to look into possible fraud in aid projects worth tens of millions of dollars. Alledged corruption² has been uncovered within the Transportation Ministry³'s Project Management Unit.

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The World Bank and the British government's Department for International Development financed about $140 million of the projects' costs, which total more than $2 billion.

The scandal forced Vietnam's transportation minister to resign this week; numerous other officials have been arrested. Now, the World Bank and DFID plan to send investigators to Vietnam to find out which of their projects were affected⁴.

Head of DFID's Vietnam office, Bella Bird, says the investigators will look into both financial and construction irregularities.

"They will be looking at the quality of the contracting process, looking for any evidence of misprocurement, and they will also be looking at the quality of the actual things that have been constructed," said Bird.

 
Vietnamese Deputy Transport Minister Nguyen Viet Tien is handcuffed and led from his home in Hanoi, April 4, 2006 
  
The Vietnamese media report that in roads built by Project Management Unit 18, high-quality absorbent sand was replaced with low-quality sand, which made the roads vulnerable to erosion. Two-point-eight-million dollars of government money vanished in those projects.

In other cases, new bridges were found to be cracking and sinking. Foreign donors⁶ worry that such practices are not confined to Project Management Unit 18.

The Vietnamese government says more than 700 Project Management Units are involved in aid projects. Pham Si Liem, vice⁷ chairman of Vietnam's construction association, says the problem is that no law governs how these units operate.

Liem says the Project Management Units function as both investors⁸ and contractors⁹, making abuse easy. He calls it a backward management system that needs to be reformed.

But in a news conference, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung says foreign donors have no reason to worry.

Le Dung says the Vietnamese government is reviewing all the legal documents related to the management of foreign development aid in Vietnam. He also says that Vietnam pursuing the PMU-18 case so strongly is a sign to donors that the country is determined¹⁰ to stamp out corruption.

"If the government does continue with this level of response, I think it will build confidence in the international community that the government is serious about tackling corruption," agreed DFID director Bird. "And it could be a turning point for the better for Vietnam."

Corruption has been an increasing problem in Vietnam as the country has liberalized its economy and received increasing amounts of foreign aid and investment. But as in many countries where corruption is extensive, business people, aid agencies and donor⁵ governments are increasingly becoming frustrated¹¹ with the losses caused by graft¹² in Vietnam.

1 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

3 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

6 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

9 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

11 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 graft   

n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接

参考例句：

• I am having a skin graft on my arm soon.我马上就要接受手臂的皮肤移植手术。
• The minister became rich through graft.这位部长透过贪污受贿致富。