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	<span style="font-size: 12px;">Fresh yen loans and funding for an ongoing urban railway project have been halted after six Vietnamese railway officials were detained over allegations of corrupt payments, the foreign ministry said in a statement.</span></div>
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	The scandal emerged in March when Japanese media reported that the national tax agency had flagged up $100,000 (Bt3.2 million) worth of payments that could not be properly accounted for.</div>
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	Japan Transportation Consultants (JTC), which is involved in several official development aid programmes, is suspected of having paid the money to officials in Vietnam and Uzbekistan and Indonesia, the reports said.</div>
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	Vietnamese investigators later arrested six people, including Tran Quoc Dong, a deputy general director of Vietnam Railways, reports said.</div>
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	On Monday, Japan said development aid would be resumed following an investigation in Vietnam, and if measures are put in place to avoid a repeat, a foreign ministry official said.</div>

Japan temporarily halts aid to Vietnam over bribery case

Japan has temporarily suspended official development aid to Vietnam over a bribery case, officials said yesterday, dealing a possible blow to Tokyo's efforts to shore up its relationship with Hanoi.