HANOI: Two former editors-in-chief of a prominent state-run newspaper in Vietnam were arrested on Tuesday, as the pace of the country’s largest-ever crackdown on corruption quickens.

The anti-graft drive, led by powerful Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, has swept through the party, police, business and armed forces.

On Tuesday, police in the southern economic hub Ho Chi Minh city arrested Nguyen Cong Khe, chief editor of Thanh Nien newspaper between 1988 and 2008, and Nguyen Quang Thong, his successor, who left in 2021.

The two were accused of “violating regulations on the management and use of state assets, causing losses and wastefulness”, police said in an announcement.

Their offices and residences were searched, police added. Media reports said the two had turned a large plot of land, which was due to be used for the construction of a headquarters for Thanh Nien newspaper, into a high-rise accommodating offices, a shopping mall and residential apartments.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2024