If the reports are true, these officials must be fined in a bid to create a transparent and fair business environment and to prevent tax losses, the Government chief ordered.

Earlier on May 26, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung ordered suspension of jobs of tax and customs officials implicated in the alleged bribery for 15 days to serve inspection work.

At the same time, he assigned the ministry's inspection agency to immediately set up an inspection team to examine the Tax Department and the Customs Department in northern Bac Ninh province, where Tenma Viet Nam is located.

The case came into the spotlight when Japanese media including Asahi Shimbun newspaper, Kyodo news agency and Nikkei, reported that Tenma Viet Nam gave the bribe to Vietnamese customs officials.

According to Asahi Shimbun, the Tokyo-based Tenma Corporation confessed the case to the Tokyo District Prosecutor. Tenma Corporation reportedly took the initiative to set up a third-party committee to investigate the violation. Bribing foreign governments is a prohibited practice in Japan./.

By Thuy Dung