Foreign ministry consular officials detained in bribery probe

Lieutenant General To An Xo, Chief of staff and spokesman of the Ministry of Public Security, said Friday that Lan, 48, Do Hoang Tung, 42, (Deputy Director of Consular Department); Le Tuan Anh, 40 (Chief of staff of Consular Department); and Luu Tuan Dung, 35 (Deputy Head of the Citizen Protection Bureau, Consular Department) have been detained by the Security Investigation Agency (Ministry of Public Security).

Xo said the officials are suspected of "seeking personal gain" in licensing some companies to organize flights to take Vietnamese citizens abroad home. More specific information about this has not been released by the Ministry of Public Security.

Since the Covid-19 outbreak, Vietnam has organized nearly 800 flights to bring home more than 200,000 citizens from more than 60 countries and territories, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

When such flights were opened, people had to buy very expensive tickets and complete cumbersome procedures to return to Vietnam.