Vietnamese police arrested Hanoi’s vice-mayor and a senior diplomat after accusing them of receiving bribes connected to a repatriation campaign during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, officials said Thursday.
The communist nation has ramped up an anti-corruption drive in the past year, with at least 35 government officials and business people detained.
On Thursday, the public security ministry issued arrest warrants for the capital city’s vice-mayor Chu Van Dung, 49, and former ambassador to Japan Vu Hong Nam, 59.
They were accused of allegedly receiving bribes, but officials did not provide any details.
“After the approval of the Supreme People’s Procuracy, the Ministry of Public Security has implemented the decision to investigate the accused, (and) realised the arrest warrant for the accused,” said an official statement.
Police searched the two mens’ homes and workplaces late Thursday.
After closing its borders to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Vietnam organised nearly 800 charter flights to bring citizens home from 60 countries and territories.
But travellers faced complicated procedures while paying exorbitant airfares and quarantine fees to get back to Vietnam, according to official and social media reports.
The deputy minister of foreign affairs, an assistant to the deputy prime minister and several diplomats have been detained in the past year in connection with the scandal.
Vietnam closed itself to the world for almost two years before reopening in mid-March.
The country shifted from a zero-Covid policy to living with the virus once vaccination rates increased.
