HANOI: Vietnam's crackdown over a Covid-19 reparation flight scandal is continuing with former Vietnamese diplomats in Japan and Malaysia being the latest to be arrested.
The two diplomats were detained on Tuesday for their involvement in the bribery scandal that has seen many high ranking officials being detained since the beginning of the year.
In the latest arrests, Nguyen Hong Ha, 58, of the Consulate General of Vietnam in Osaka, Japan, is being investigated for accepting bribes.
According to Ministry of Public Security spokesman To An Xo, another former official, Le Ngoc Anh, 34, who served at the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia, was also detained and he faced a power abuse charge.
The Vn Express news portal said Hoang Anh Kiem, 44, a freelancer, has also been detained for allegedly giving bribes.
The arrests come as Vietnamese authorities probe a bribery scandal over Covid-19 repatriation flights last year. It has seen many high-ranking officials at different ministries and government entities being arrested and investigated.
After eight months of investigations, so far 22 people have been arrested, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs To Anh Dung.
Vietnam organised around 800 repatriation flights and brought back over 200,000 citizens from over 60 countries and territories during the pandemic.
Many people had to buy very expensive tickets and undergo troublesome procedures to get a flight home, and this resulted in many complaints.
Among others arrested on accusations of taking and giving bribes, include officials at the Ministry of Public Security, the Health Ministry, the Transport Ministry, the Government Office, and businesspeople.
Late last month, an assistant to Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, was also arrested for allegedly taking bribes in relation to the repatriation flights.
Nguyen Quang Linh, 48, faces criminal charges over the scandal and he was also expelled from the Vietnamese Communist Party.
The former deputy foreign affairs minister Dung was also expelled from the party.
The secretariat of the Communist Party announced the expulsion at a meeting chaired by party chief Nguyen Phu Trong in Hanoi last week.
According to the secretariat, Linh, an assistant to Vietnam's deputy premier and former foreign minister Pham Binh Minh, had abused his position and violated government and party regulations in organising the flights.
Dung, who was arrested in April, was also alleged to have lacked responsibility and violated the Party and state's regulations on organising those flights.
The Vn Express report said both are considered to have committed violations that cause "very serious consequences," that led to many among the public to be upset and this affected the Party's image.
Vietnam's Communist Party has four modes of punishment for misconduct by official members - reprimand, warning, demotion and expulsion. The government would impose other punishments later.