Vietnam anti-corruption chief arrested for graft
HANOI - Vietnam's anti-corruption chief has been arrested over allegations he took bribes and abused his position, in an embarrassing setback for the country's fight against rampant graft. Luong Cao Khai, head of Vietnam's anti-corruption inspection taskforce and deputy director of the government's inspection department, was arrested at his home here on Thursday, an investigative police source told AFP.
The official, who was suspended earlier this month by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, was appointed to probe state-owned oil and gas giant PetroVietnam between 2002 and 2003 but failed to prove any major incidences of corruption.
Police later uncovered several cases of serious wrongdoing.
"He is accused of receiving money and land from some oil and gas officials to use for private purposes and abusing his position to provide his relatives with jobs in oil and gas sector," the Tuoi Tre daily newspaper said Friday.
After receiving the money, he modified the contents of its inspection to underestimate the wrongdoings his teams had uncovered, the paper said.
On Wednesday, seven oil and gas officials received sentences ranging from four years to life imprisonment for being involved in falsifying a 17-million dollar contract that resulted in millions of dollars in losses to state coffers.
The communist regime has vowed to stamp out rampant corruption that permeates the government and state sector, and the National assembly is due to vote a comprehensive anti-corruption law on November 28.
Critics, however, say the crackdown is highly selective and that some high-ranking officials have acquired de facto immunity from prosecution despite allegations that their personal fortunes were acquired illegally.
Agence France Presse - October 21, 2005.
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