February 8, 2006

Vietnamese officials allegedly steal bird flu funds
 

Two Vietnamese officials were sacked and stripped of their Communist Party membership for allegedly embezzling VND80 million (US$5,000) from state funds earmarked to fight bird flu, an official said Wednesday.

Last month, four village officials in Hanoi's suburban District of Dong Anh were arrested for allegedly collaborating with poultry farmers to inflate the number of birds being culled.

The government would have lost VND3.3 billion (US$200,000), but the funds were not yet paid, officials said. The government compensates ranchers VND5,000 (US$0.31) to VND15,000 (US$0.94) for each bird culled.

More than 47 million birds have been culled in Vietnam since outbreaks began ravaging poultry farms in the country in late 2003, including nearly 4 million in the latest wave that began in early October last year.

Meanwhile, Wednesday's People's Army newspaper quoted Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat as saying that despite zero outbreaks among poultry in Vietnam in nearly two months, there is no room for complacency since the danger of new outbreaks remains very high.

Cool temperatures and farmers' defiance of a ban on restocking water fowl pose a threat for new flare-ups, he said.

Bird flu has killed at least 88 people since late 2003, the majority of them in Vietnam.