HCMC tightens control of overseas travel for officials

Ho Chi Minh City has banned officials who are undergoing disciplinary proceedings from leaving the country as part of a new policy to tighten overseas travel using public money.

Officials will no longer be permitted to travel abroad for personal reasons using the national budget or diplomatic passports; they will not be allowed to extend their trips; and they will no longer be able to carry confidential documents while traveling overseas, among others, according to the decision, which took effect on Tuesday.

They will also be limited to a maximum of two trips per year, and special cases will require permission from the city's People's Committee.

Two key officials from the same government departments will not be allowed to travel abroad at the same time, the decision states.

In 2013 and 2018, similar documents were issued by the city's People's Committee.

However, the new decision is intended to tighten control even further in light of recent cases of officials traveling too frequently, or officials signing up for multiple foreign trips at the same time, which have sparked public controversy.

There were cases when a general director of a state-owned company went abroad four times a year, the director and the deputy director of a department joined an overseas trip, and an official who had not finished one overseas trip when already being listed for the next trip, a source from the city government said, without giving names.