Central Highlands province chairman arrested for accepting bribes

Tran Van Hiep, chairman of Vietnam’s Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, has been arrested and issued with a search warrant on charges of “receiving bribes”, the Ministry of Public Security announced Tuesday.

The ministry’s Police Department for Corruption, Economic and Smuggling Crimes (C03) made the move following an expanded investigation into bribery and abuse of power in Lam Dong, which was initiated in March 2023.

Hiep was found to have received bribes related to the Dai Ninh eco-tourism-commercial-urban complex project in the province.

The police are conducting a further investigation into the case to freeze, seize, and recover state assets.

The Dai Ninh complex project is invested by Saigon-Dai Ninh Company, with notorious entrepreneur Nguyen Cao Tri as CEO. The 3,595-hectare project, with an investment of VND25 trillion ($1.03 billion), was given an investment certificate in December 2010.

However, little progress has been made, while Saigon-Dai Ninh Company failed to ensure its accountability, leading to the deforestation of 257 hectares and the illegal takeover of 111 hectares of forest.

Previously, in the same case, C03 and Lam Dong police detained Nguyen Ngoc Anh, chief inspector of the province, for deterioration in morality and receiving bribes.

The Central Inspection Commission concluded that Anh had showed deterioration in political ideology, morality and lifestyle; accepted bribes; violated Party regulations and State laws; and breached regulations of the Party members' code of conduct and responsibility to set a good example.

The violations caused very serious consequences and bad public opinion, adversely affecting the reputation of Party organizations and the inspectorate sector, the conclusion read.

The initial investigation found that he committed violations during inspections at the Dai Ninh eco-tourism-commercial-urban complex project.