Newspaper manager arrested in alleged company extortion

By Minh Cuong October 23, 2020 | 02:50 am PT

Two hands pass a stack of cash under a table. Illustration photo by Shutterstock.

A newspaper manager in northern Quang Ninh Province was arrested Thursday as part of an investigation into the alleged receipt of VND250 million ($10,790) in bribes from an unnamed company.

Hoang Anh Tuan, 39, head of local Nong Thon Ngay Nay (Rural Today) newspaper’s north-east office, is the third person to be arrested in a possible bribery case where journalists threatened to expose the wrongdoings of a company in Ha Long should it refuse to pay them money, said Quang Ninh Police.

Last month, 41-year-old Nguyen Tuan Diep, reporter at the media center of Quang Ninh, and 35-year-old Hoang Van Trinh from the Nong Thon Ngay Nay newspaper office, were detained for investigation over possible bribe taking.

On September 2, Quang Ninh authorities caught Diep red-handedly receiving VND250 million from a representative of a company involved in a road construction project in Van Don District, police said. Trinh was caught afterwards as Diep's accomplice.

It has yet to be revealed what information the journalists were threatening to expose.