Two more officials of a state-run mobile carrier being arrested by Vietnam’s police, the latest sweep in nation’s graft crackdown that has already engulfed hundreds of government officials.
The arrests follow last month’s election of new President Nguyen Phu Trong, cum Vietnam’s party chief and architect of the crackdown, which saw a member of the powerful decision-making politburo among those arrested and jailed.
According to a report on Reuters, Cao Duy Hai, the former General Director and Pham Thi Phuong Anh, deputy director of MobiFone were accused of “violating regulations on the management and use of state capital,” the Ministry of Public Security said on Wednesday.
Police have accused the company of causing losses to the state budget by overpaying for a stake of 95% in a loss-making pay-TV provider, the ministry said in a statement
MobiFone, one of Vietnam’s three largest mobile carriers by subscribers, bought the controversial stake in Audio Visual Global JSC (AVG) in 2015 for nearly US$386 million.
In July 2018, local police arrested a former chairman of MobiFone and a senior official of the Ministry of Information and Communications accused of involvement in the case.
The information minister of Vietnam was suspended that month and replaced in October over alleged ties to wrongdoing at the company. In an unrelated investigation, police arrested a former deputy labour minister last week over accusations of economic mismanagement.
In 2018, Vietnam has opened 427 corruption cases to investigate 889 officials, its chief government inspector, Le Minh Khai, said in a statement on Tuesday this week.
This year, Vietnam”s police have completed investigations into 212 other graft cases that involved misappropriation of more than US$200 million and 300,000 square metres (3.23 million sq ft) of land, Khai added.
“Preventing, and fighting against, corruption will continue to be a key task in 2019,” the statement said.
Reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by James Pearson and Clarence Fernandez Read full article on Reuters.com