Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security had earlier issued a special wanted notice for Dung, 55, who had fled before an arrest warrant for him could be prepared.
Dung, a native of Hai Duong Province, has been charged with “intentionally acting against the State’s economic management regulations and causing serious consequences” for his wrongdoings committed during the time he was chairman of the infamous state giant Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines).
If found guilty, Dung may face a sentence of up to life imprisonment.
On September 7, 2011 the Government’s Inspectorate issued a decision to inspect Vinalines after the group, for the first time, announced its loss of VND660 billion (US$31.7 million) in the first six months of 2011.
In early February 2012, Dung left Vinalines to take the post of head of the Vietnam Maritime Administration under an appointment by Transport Minister Dinh La Thang.
Inspectors found that most of the 14 port projects implemented by Vinalines between 2007 and 2010 violated the State’s regulations on administrative management, finance allocation, design approval, and construction.
As a results, Vinalines suffered a great loss of about VND1,685 billion ($81 million) in two years, 2009 and 2010. The group’s profit-to-equity ratio dropped from 14.15 % in 2007 to -14.8 % (minus 14.8 %) in 2010.
One of the most serious wrongdoings by Dung came in 2007.
In June that year Dung approved the project to construct a shipyard with a total investment of VND3.85 trillion, including a bidder package to install a floating dock. The approval was made when Vinalines had yet to receive an approval from the Prime Minister.
A year later Dung once again approved the report submitted by Vinalines CEO Mai Van Phuc to increase the total investment to VND6.48 trillion. In October 2007, Dung green-lighted a plan to buy the M83 floating dock for $14.13 million. However, in February 2008, Dung agreed to a random adjustment that increased the amount for the floating dock purchase to as much as $24.3 million.
The floating dock has been sitting dormant over the last four years, causing a huge waste, inspectors said.