Hanoi - A court in southern Vietnam will try the former deputy trade minister, his son and 12 others next month in a case involving alleged bribery in the allocation of garment export quotas, officials said Tuesday.
The trial of ex-deputy minister Mai Van Dau, 64, will be tried starting March 13 in Ho Chi Minh City along with his son, 35-year-old Mai Thanh Hai, and 12 other alleged co-conspirators, according to the chief judge of the court.
The court proceedings are expected to last 10 days, chief judge Nguyen Duc Sau said.
The former deputy minister is charged with receiving bribes and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Other defendants in the case will face charges of giving bribes, fraud and abuse of power, according to prosecutor Nguyen To Toan.
Dau was arrested in November 2004 after an investigation into trading textile export quotas for the United States market. He was accused of taking 6,000 dollars in bribes to give more favourable
quota ceilings to certain manufacturers.
At least 20 businessmen and trade officials were arrested in the quota-selling scandal.
Garment quotas placed a ceiling of how many garments Vietnam could export to the US under a trade agreement between the two countries. The limits for each factory or company's exports was decided by Vietnam's government.
The practice ended last month when Vietnam entered the World Trade Organization, which outlaws quotas for garments among members.
Garment manufacturing is Vietnam's second-highest export earner after crude oil, totaling an estimated 5.8 billion dollars last year, according to the Ministry of Trade.
Vietnam has set a goal of 7 billion dollars in garment exports this year now that the quotas have been lifted.
