January 11, 2006

Vietnam officials investigated for alleged bird-flu fraud
 

Three village officials in Vietnam are being investigated for allegedly inflating the number of poultry they culled while trying to stop the spread of bird flu - a scheme that would have bilked the government of US$220,000, an official said Wednesday.

Hundreds of thousands of poultry were said to have been culled in Dai Mach village near Hanoi last month, but the total number was allegedly inflated, said a village official who identified himself only as Chi.

Vietnam's government is offering a compensation of VND5,000 (31 cents) to VND15,000 for each bird culled in an effort to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

Chi said the government would have lost an estimated VND3.5 billion, but the compensation had not been paid yet.

The three village officials have been suspended pending an investigation, Chi said.

Since early October, nearly 4 million birds have died or been slaughtered in 24 affected provinces nationwide in the latest bird flu outbreak.

Bird flu has killed more than 100 million birds since it began ravaging poultry farms across Asia in 2003. It also jumped to humans, killing at least 76 people in Asia - the majority in Vietnam. Two deaths were also reported recently in Turkey.

Health experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that will spread easily from person to person, possibly sparking a global pandemic. So far, most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds.