However, GIV hopes to retrieve only about VND9.3 billion ($426,600) of this, the agency said.

One of the biggest alleged business fraudsters in recent years, Giang Kim Dat, ex-sales manager with the State-owned Vinashin Ocean Shipping Co. Ltd. (Vinashinlines) was recently arrested after fleeing Viet Nam for Singapore five years ago.

Dat allegedly bought two high-end apartments in the island-nation, one worth US$3.6 million.

He was alleged to have embezzled nearly $19 million while handling his company's contracts to buy and rent cruises.

GIV said it was co-operating with Singapore to recover the lost money.

GIV had held a meeting with the Anti-Corruption Agency of Singapore to discuss Dat's case, said the deputy director of Viet Nam's Anti-Corruption Bureau, Ngo Manh Hung.

"However, the retrieval process has to wait until the Vietnamese judicial agency decides what action to take," Hung added.He said Viet Nam and Singapore had both signed the United Nations Convention against Corruption, creating a mutual basis to proceed.

Inspectorate official arrested

 The Government Inspectorate of Viet Nam (GIV) on Thursday confirmed that one of its officials had been arrested for alleged fraud involving VND100 million ($4,580).

Nguyen Tien Dung, 35, who was with the Bureau of Settlement of Complaints, Denunciations and Inspection for the Northern Region (Bureau I), was arrested on July 7 at a cafe in Cau Giay District while allegedly receiving the money from a citizen.

GIV Deputy Chief Ngo Van Khanh said Dung was not arrested in connection with his work at the agency, but he had been suspended from duty following the arrest. 

VNS