“Co” – a special job in Vietnam From birth until death, Vietnamese continually find themselves at the mercy of all sorts of clever and unscrupulous "co", a word which can be roughly translated as “middleman”. They must pay middlemen to approach healthcare services, to complete vehicle registration, to buy a house, to apply for a job and even to find a plot of land for their dead. Estate middlemen   Many families in Phu Yen Province have their houses advertised for sale by “middlemen”. Sometimes the advertisements are right on the walls of their houses. To pay the school fees for his two children, both university students, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh put up for sale a 100m2 plot of land located in the central province of Phu Yen. He posted an advertising signboard in the morning. Soon thereafter, a man named Hung called him, offering VND570 million ($27,000) for the land. As the offer was far too low, Thanh turned him down. In the afternoon, Thanh paid a visit to his lot. In place of his advertising signboard, he discovered another that read: “Selling land, please contact Mr. Hung". Thanh then got his neighbor to agree  to post the ad on the wall of his house. After one night, the wall was re-painted with new advertising content, again with the name and the phone number of a certain Mr. Hung. Thanh eventually came to realize that he could not fight this middleman, and agreed to sell Hung the land for VND575 million. Shortly thereafter, Hung sold the property to another party, earning himself a handsome and very easy VND65 million ($3,400) profit. According to real estate speculators in Phu Yen, the most famous real estate middleman is Sau T. All estate-related administrative problems can be solved by this man, who is said to have close relations with local officials. Mrs. Bui Thi Van Anh, Vice Chair of Ward 9, Tuy Hoa City, Phu Yen Province, says that both land buyers and sellers incur losses from middlemen because they have to pay commissions to them. “There are estate middlemen everywhere and ‘co’ has become a job, but the local government cannot do anything to control them,” she says. According to the inspection team of administrative procedures of the central province of Ninh Thuan, when inspectors randomly selected 160 applications for certificates of land use rights, they discovered that up to 64 profiles had been handled from 30 days to 2 months late according to the law. Inspectors suspect that to get these profiles approved, people had to pay commissions to “co”, who have close relations with the relevant officials. Middlemen for vehicle registration services There are many middlemen for vehicle registration services who hang around the registration centers in Hanoi and HCM City. It’s quite easy to get a number plate with “lucky numbers” like 39, 79 or 68 for a new motorcycle or car, despite the fact that the registration numbers are randomly selected on computers. You need only pay VND3-4 million ($150-200) to a middleman. “Nice tomb you got there… Shame if something happened to it.” Da Nang has three large cemeteries of Hoa Khuong, Hoa Son and Hoa Ninh in Hoa Vang District. The total unoccupied area in these cemeteries is about three hectares, enough for 6,000 tombs only. Taking advantage of this, “co” buy plots in the cemeteries to sell at prices 10 times higher than those listed. Not only selling cemetery land, “co” also offer tomb building services at very high prices. People are forced to use the services of “co”, otherwise the tombs of their relatives will end up "mysteriously" desecrated. “Co” at hospitals “Co” blatantly entice and cheat patients at the gates of major hospitals in Hanoi and HCM City. There are dozens of “co” at the Central Ophthalmology Hospital in Hanoi, which serves hundreds of patients a day. To see the doctor early, without having to queue and wait for hours, patients are told to pay several US dollars of commission to a middleman and $15 as examination fees to the doctors. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hiep, the hospital’s Deputy Director, admits that some doctors conspire with middlemen to invite patients to their private clinics. At some hospitals, many patients are willing to pay $5-15 to middlemen to get the first number cards to see the doctors. To get those cards, middlemen queue up early on behalf of the patients, or take cards from hospital officers with whom they are in cahoots. NLD