Vietnam news agency apologizes over false report on prosecutions

Vietnam’s state-run news agency apologized on Saturday for issuing what it said was a false report that two more officials of state energy firm PetroVietnam were to be prosecuted over financial losses.

The original report had also been carried on the government’s official website.

Vietnam News Agency said in a statement that it had apologized to Phung Dinh Thuc and Do Van Hau over the false report. It also apologized to their families and to police.

The news agency said it had failed to verify its information “carefully enough” before publication.

Thuc served as PetroVietnam's general director between 2008 and 2010 and as its chairman from 2011 to 2014, while Hau was the general director of the group from 2011 to 2014.

PetroVietnam is at the heart of a sweeping high-level corruption crackdown .

Former PetroVietnam chairman Dinh La Thang, 56, was arrested on Friday. The former member of Vietnam’s politburo is the most senior executive arrested so far.

Thang’s brother, Dinh Manh Thang, former chairman of a PetroVietnam unit, was also arrested on allegations of violating state regulations on economic management.