Hoang Quoc Vuong was arrested for alleged abuse of power as part of an on-going trade ministry investigation, according to a statement on the Vietnam Ministry of Public Security’s website. - Photo: Vietnam News/ANN
HANOI (Bloomberg):Vietnam police detained a former chairman of Vietnam Oil and Gas Group who is also a former deputy trade minister as a government inspectorate criticized the ministry for lack of oversight and failing to detect violations of petroleum traders.
Hoang Quoc Vuong was arrested for alleged abuse of power as part of an on-going trade ministry investigation, according to a statement on the Ministry of Public Security’s website.
Vuong retired from his chairman position Jan 1, the government statement said. Vuong was deputy trade minister between 2015 and 2020, VnExpress reported.
The trade ministry displayed loose management and failed to promptly detect violations of petroleum traders’ storage conditions and distribution requirements, VnExpress reported in a separate article, citing a government inspectorate report.
The detention of Vuong comes after a long string of arrests touching on various government and business sectors.
Vietnam’s Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong calls his anti-graft campaign a "blazing furnace” that has entangled hundreds of government officials and business executives in investigations at least since 2021.
Trong seeks to ensure the party’s legitimacy in the nation of 100 million people in face of wide-ranging scandals.
In December, police detained Deputy Trade Minister Do Thang Hai as part of an investigation tied to Xuyen Viet Oil Travel and Transport Trading Company for allegedly taking bribes. Earlier that month, a former leader of a Mekong Delta province was held as part of the same probe.
The country experienced turmoil in the petroleum market in 2022 due to a prolonged shortage of fuel, leading to the closure of some gas stations, VnExpress reported.
The government inspectorate report also highlighted violations in the nation’s petroleum price stabilization fund from Jan. 2017 to April 2018, the news website said.
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