Context :

Aims : We use the VVV survey observations in bulge regions close to the Galactic plane to trace the bar inclination at the Galactic latitude b \sim \pm 1 and to investigate a distinct structure in the inner regions of the bar that was previously detected at positive latitude ( b = +1 ) .

Methods : We use the ( J - K _ { s } ) colors of the red clump stars to obtain reddening values on 6 \times 6 arcmin scale , minimizing the problems arising from differential extinction .
Dereddened magnitudes are then used to build the luminosity function of the bulge in regions of \sim 0.4 sq deg to obtain the mean red clump magnitudes .
These are used as distance indicators to trace the bar structure .

Results : The luminosity function clearly shows the red clump mean magnitude variation with longitude , as expected from a large scale bar oriented towards us at positive Galactic longitude , with a dereddened magnitude varying from K _ { s _ { 0 } } = 13.4 at l = -10 ^ { \circ } to K _ { s _ { 0 } } = 12.4 at l = +10 ^ { \circ } .
We detect a change in the orientation of the bar in the central regions with |l| < 4 ^ { \circ } at b = \pm 1 ^ { \circ } , in agreement with results obtained at positive latitudes by other authors .
Our results are based on a different dataset and at different latitude , which shows that this change in the bar orientation is real .
This suggests that there is an inner structure distinct to the large-scale Galactic bar , with a different orientation angle .
This inner structure could be a secondary , inner bar , with a semi-major axis of \sim 500 pc that is symmetric with respect to the Galactic plane .

Conclusions :