HANOI: More than a dozen Vietnamese officers went on trial in Hanoi on Tuesday (Dec 24) for alleged corruption on repatriation flights in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, a scandal that noticed 54 individuals jailed final yr.
The case is a part of a serious anti-corruption drive that has led to the resignations of a president and two deputy prime ministers in a rustic the place political modifications are often rigorously orchestrated.
Last yr, 54 officers and businessmen have been discovered responsible of receiving, providing or brokering bribes that amounted to $9.5 million, in line with state media.
These embrace 4 former senior officers from the ministries of international affairs, well being and public safety, sentenced to life in jail.
Among the 17 who will face court docket on Tuesday on fees of corruption, abuse of energy and hiding criminals are transport ministry and provincial officers, in addition to journey firm staff.
Tran Tung, a former official from the northern province of Nguyen, advised the court docket he accepted about $300,000 in bribes and commissions to arrange quarantine services.
“I did it as a result of I noticed the opportunity of incomes cash and benefiting from it,” he advised the court docket, in line with the state-run newspaper Vietnam Law.
The trial is predicted to take a couple of week.
At the peak of the pandemic in early 2020 — when Vietnam had closed its borders to virtually everybody besides returning residents — the defendants allegedly gave or accepted bribes to assist individuals get seats on repatriation flights.
At the time, returnees confronted difficult entry procedures, costly flights and quarantine prices.
Last yr, a Hanoi mom advised AFP she spent greater than $10,000 to convey her teenage daughter again to Vietnam from a boarding college in Europe on the peak of the pandemic.
The corruption allegations are a part of an anti-corruption marketing campaign that has uncovered a collection of offers made in the course of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam.
Last yr, the nation’s National Assembly eliminated former international affairs ministers Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam, who had overseen the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, from their positions as deputy prime ministers.
The crackdown additionally introduced down President Nguyen Xuan Phuc after he “took political duty” for the shortcomings of assorted officers.
