Refugee Agency's Director Resigns -- Decision Comes Amid Controversies

The executive director of the state's largest refugee agency has resigned.

Kim Long Nguyen and the Refugee Federation Service Center Board of Directors quietly decided to sever relations and made a pact not to discuss the situation publicly, according to three agency officials who asked not to be named.

Two board members would confirm only that the board reached an agreement with Nguyen last month on his resignation.

Nguyen has been on paid administrative leave from the $38,000-a-year job since the January revelation that the FBI was investigating him and the agency. An independent audit, ordered by Gov. Gary Locke, has examined whether refugees received promised services from the Southeast Seattle social-service agency.

Refugee Federation officials have maintained the agency has done nothing wrong and say they've welcomed the inspection.

Nguyen could not be reached for comment.

Yesterday, agency officials told the state's division of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance that it will brief its contractors on its management changes, said Jeff Kibler of the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).

The Refugee Federation is expected to inform officials that Nguyen has resigned and that Ngy Hul is serving as acting director.

Since 1984, Nguyen has led the private, nonprofit agency that serves more than 1,600 refugees and immigrants a year with employment services and job-skills training. The agency has an annual budget of about $2 million, mostly from state and federal funds.

To his supporters - and even some detractors - Nguyen is a leader in the Southeast Asian community, a refugee with a network of allies and influential friends.

He was one of the first Vietnamese immigrants in Western Washington to get involved in politics, bringing the community together, said Thuy Vu, director of the Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance.

"There were a lot of arguments back and forth in the (Asian) community, and he made them feel like they all had a common goal," said Steve Levey, who worked for Nguyen from 1986 to 1988.

But Nguyen also became entangled in several controversies. In 1991, he helped to found Touchstones, a Seattle social-service agency that shut down amid allegations of overbilling for its services. It still owes the DSHS more than $100,000.

In the 1980s, conflict-of-interest questions were raised because Nguyen's brother and his brothers' friends were living in an agency-funded apartment for refugees.

Since 1995, the DSHS has rejected $390,000 of the Refugee Federation's bills because the agency didn't provide adequate documentation or allegedly asked for excessive payments. Some of the disputed bills were straightened out and paid. Then allegations surfaced that the agency was not providing the services the government was paying for.

Earlier this year, after rumors circulated that Nguyen had resigned, he met with supporters at a Vietnamese community center in South Seattle and said he had no intention of stepping down.

But in late March, board member Johnny Shek told the Northwest Asian Weekly the agency was considering letting Nguyen go after 14 years because he had damaged the center's image and credibility.

Tan Vinh's phone message number is 206-515-5656. His e-mail address is: tvinh@seattletimes.com