Hanoi: A Vietnamese court on Friday sentenced more than a dozen officials to up to 12 years in prison for corruption in connection with repatriation and quarantine flights due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The case is part of a broad anti-corruption crusade that has led to the resignation of a president and two deputy prime ministers in a country where political changes are carefully orchestrated.
Last year, 54 businessmen were convicted of receiving, providing or negotiating bribes that, according to state media, amounted to $9. 5 million.
Among them were 4 former senior officials of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Health and Public Security, who were sentenced to life imprisonment.
At the height of the pandemic in early 2020, Vietnam closed its borders to almost all returning citizens.
In both cases, the defendants were accused of giving or accepting bribes to help other people obtain seats on repatriation flights and qualify for medical quarantines.
At the time, returnees faced confusing access procedures, flights and quarantine fees.
The defendants “took advantage of the policies of the party, the state and their positions. . . to agree on bribes and they were wrong. . . bringing citizens back for medical quarantine,” the Cong Ly newspaper quoted Friday’s verdict.
Tran Tung, a former official for northern Thai Nguyen province, was found guilty of taking around $300,000 in bribes and commission for organising quarantine facilities.
He sentenced him to 12 years in criminal prison for corruption and abuse of power.
Sixteen other Ministry of Transportation officials, provincial officials and company workers were sentenced to up to three and a half years of criminal sentences on charges of corruption and abuse of power.
Last year, a Hanoi mother told AFP she spent more than $10,000 to bring her teenage daughter back to Vietnam from a boarding school in Europe at the worst of the pandemic.
The graft allegations come as part of an anti-corruption drive that has uncovered a number of deals done during Vietnam’s pandemic response.
Last year, the National Assembly removed former foreign ministers Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam, who oversaw the reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic, from their positions as deputy prime ministers.
The crackdown also toppled President Nguyen Xuan Phuc after he “took political responsibility” for officials’ failures.
According to the public security ministry, in 2024, police put under their radar 825 cases with 1,676 people on corruption accusations, an increase of more than 16 percent compared to 2023.
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