Head of state agro firm arrested for property-related wrongdoing

Van Trong Dung, 52, faces charges of "violations in the management and use of state-owned property that led to losses or squander," the Ministry of Public Security said.

Nguyen Thi Thuy, 53, former chief accountant of Sagri, was arrested under the same charge on the same day.

The arrests are part of an expanded investigation into Sagri. Earlier Sagri’s dismissed CEO, Le Tan Hung, was also taken into custody on the same charge.

If found guilty, they face up to 20 years in jail.

Inspectors said Hung, younger brother of former Ho Chi Minh City's party chief Le Thanh Hai, and Thuy had illegally co-signed expenses of more than VND13 billion ($556,000) for Sagri employees’ overseas study trips.

State auditors also found Sagri had committed misconduct in renting land, making unauthorized investment collaboration and developing real estate on land allocated for agro-forestry-fishery production.

They also found that Sagri’s investment activities had resulted in huge losses.