Former top naval officer loses commander position

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued a decision on Tuesday under which Hien, 65, was retroactively dismissed as the Commander of Vietnam People's Navy.

Hien, also a former Deputy Defense Minister, had made "very serious" violations when he was the naval commander between 2004 and 2015, the decision said.

For his wrongdoing, he had already been dismissed from all party positions in June.

The main decision-making body of the Communist Party of Vietnam, its Politburo, retroactively dismissed Hien as member of the Central Military Commission, the highest party organ on military policy, for the 2005- 2010 term, and member of the Standing Committee of the People’s Navy Party unit for the same period.

The Central Inspection Committee, the party's top watchdog, found Hien, along with Vice Admiral Nguyen Van Tinh and Rear Admiral Le Van Dao, responsible for several land management violations.

The violations resulted in major financial losses and badly affected the reputation of the Communist Party and the People’s Navy, the committee said. Further details were not revealed.

Tinh had received an official warning in June while Dao got the same punishment in late May. The Communist Party of Vietnam has four modes of punishment against members: reprimand, warning, demotion and expulsion.

In April, the committee had concluded that the Standing Committee of the People's Navy's party unit had committed several serious violations. It had violated the principle of democratic centralism, broken working regulations, and been negligent in leading, managing, inspecting and supervising, resulting in violations on using national defense land, the committee said.

A sweeping corruption crackdown spearheaded by Party chief and President Nguyen Phu Trong has snared scores of high-profile officials over the last three years.

Last year, a large number of officials and businesspeople in the energy and banking sectors were prosecuted for corruption.