HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Public Security’s (MPS) investigating agency on Monday initiated a nation-level search for the former general director of Petrochemical and Textile Fibre Joint Stock Company (PVTex).

PVTex is a textile unit under the state-owned Việt Nam Oil and Gas Group (PVN).

PVTex’s former general director Vũ Đình Duy, 42, fled the country on October 22, 2016, while being investigated for violating the State’s regulations on economic management and causing significant financial losses to the company.

All citizens have the right to arrest and take Duy to the nearest police station, procuracy or People’s Committee office, the search warrant states. Anyone who gets hold of Duy is required to immediately report it to the ministry’s investigating agency, which is headquartered at No 47 Phạm Văn Đồng Street in Hà Nội’s Cầu Giấy District. Citizens can also reach investigator Đinh Quốc Thiện on 0692322579/0912397689.

Duy served as general director of PVTex from July 15, 2009, to February 2014, during which time its subsidiary Đình Vũ Polyester Fibre Plant, which cost an investment of VNĐ7 trillion (US$311 million), remained in a poor financial state and at a high risk of bankruptcy. It finally shut down in October 2015.

The 15-hectare Đình Vũ Polyester Fibre Plant, a subsidiary of PVTex, where Vũ Đình Duy served as general director. — VNA/VNP Photo

PVTex’s operations and production were to resume in the first quarter of 2016, but so far it has stayed shut, incurring losses of VNĐ1.3 trillion ($55.5 million) in 2015, according to a PVN report.

Recently, several mistakes made by PVTex in project selection, contractor selection and contract signing came to light, following investigations by the Government Inspectorate. The inspectorate then requested that the MPS continue the probe.  

Duy and four other PVN executives have been under investigation since June 2016. The other four suspects include Trần Trung Chí Hiếu, former chairman of PVTex managing board; Vũ Phương Nam, PVTex’s chief accountant; Đào Ngọ Hoàng, former director of PVTex’s chamber of commerce contracts; and Đỗ Văn Hồng, chairman of managing board and general director of Kinh Bắc Petroleum Construction and Investment Joint Stock Company (PVC-KBC).

Following his poor performance at PVTex, Duy was appointed a board member at the Việt Nam National Chemical Corporation (Vinachem) in April 2016. However, since October 24, 2016, he has been absent from office, according to a report by Vinachem and a working group of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

The MPS’ Immigration Management Department discovered that Duy left Việt Nam on October 22, 2016, and has not returned to the country since then, according to the Vietnam Economic Times newspaper. — VNS