U.S. accuses Vietnam of corrupt adoption system
HANOI, April 28 (Reuters) - U.S. investigators said they had found evidence of baby trafficking and corruption in Vietnam's adoption system, prompting Hanoi to end adoptions to the United States, officials said on Monday.
Communist-run Vietnam's adoption system has had a turbulent history and it came under the spotlight a year ago when actress Angelina Jolie visited the Southeast Asian country to adopt a boy.
A U.S. embassy spokeswoman said the Vietnamese government sent a letter to the Hanoi embassy saying it would stop taking adoption applications after July 1.
Official figures show that Americans adopted 828 Vietnamese children in 2007.
U.S. investigators said it received credible reports from current and former employees of Adoption Service Providers working in Vietnam regarding corruption in the adoption system, beginning with the licensing procedures.
"The survey reflects findings from investigation of hundreds of cases," said U.S. embassy spokeswoman Angela Aggeler.
Vietnamese officials denied the corruption and bribery allegations in the report.
Investigators said several providers reported they were told they had to fund tours to the United States for government officials in order to receive their licenses and that the tours included shopping sprees, where the agencies were expected to pay for all of the purchases of the Vietnamese delegation.
Others said they had to pay bribes for provincial licences.
Agencies also reported that cash and in-kind donations were diverted by orphanage officials and used to finance personal property, private cars, jewellery and, in one case, a commercial real estate development, the report said.
Aggeler said the government would process cases of families matched with babies before July 1 until an adoption agreement between Hanoi and Washington expires on Sept. 1.
The United States resumed adoptions from Vietnam in 2006 after the two governments signed a new agreement following the suspension of an earlier pact in 2003 over suspicions of corruption.
(Reporting by Grant McCool)
