Deputy foreign minister arrested in pandemic repatriation scam

To Anh Dung, Vietnam’s Deputy Foreign Minister, was arrested on Thursday on charges of accepting bribes related to “rescue flights” that brought Vietnamese citizens home amid pandemic surge.

Lieutenant General To An Xo, Chief of Staff and spokesman of the Ministry of Public Security, said that Dung, 58, was detained by the ministry’s investigative agency for allegedly “receiving bribes”. Dung was appointed as Deputy Foreign Minister in 2019.

Pham Trung Kien, a 41-year-old official at the Ministry of Health’s Department of Medical Project and Equipment, and Vu Anh Tuan, 43, a former officer of the Ministry of Public Security’s Immigration Department were arrested on the same charges.

The arrest of these people is part of an investigation into the case of bribery and accepting bribes at the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department and related provinces and cities.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19, Vietnam has organized nearly 800 repatriation flights, bringing home more than 200,000 citizens from more than 60 countries and territories. When the flights were deployed, many people claimed they had to buy very expensive tickets and experienced cumbersome procedures.

On January 28, the investigative agency arrested Nguyen Thi Huong Lan, 48, Director of the Consular Department, and three subordinates, namely Do Hoang Tung, Deputy Director; Le Tuan Anh, Chief of the Consular Department’s Office; and Luu Tuan Dung, Deputy Head of the department’s civil protection division. The four have been placed under investigation for receiving bribes.

Two months later, Nguyen Dieu Mo, General Director of An Binh Aviation Services, Tourism and Trade Company, was arrested on charges of bribery.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Public Security said that these people have taken advantage of the government’s policy for personal gains.

The case happened for a long time, and the suspects “defended themselves very fiercely, making it very time-consuming for the investigative agency to verify and prove [their violations]," the spokesman added.