The arrests are the latest development of an expanded probe into a bribery case at the Consular Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Lieutenant General To An Xo, chief of the Office and spokesperson at the Ministry of Public Security.

Besides Du, Ministry of Public Security investigators on July 25 filed charges against Nguyen Mai Anh, international relations executive at the Government Office; Ngo Quang Tuan, international cooperation executive at the Ministry of Transport; and Vu Sy Cuong, former immigration officer at the Ministry of Public Security, for allegedly receiving bribes.

Nguyen Tien Manh, deputy director of Viet Travel Tourist Trading JSC and director of Hoang Long Trading Tourism Transportation Company, was arrested for allegedly giving bribes.

The investigators also pressed charges against Bui Huy Hoang, an official of the Vietnam General Department of Preventive Medicine at the Ministry of Health, for allegedly committing fraud to appropriate assets.

The investigators also searched the houses and offices of the six people.

Earlier, the investigators filed charges against To Anh Dung, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Pham Trung Kien, a specialist at the Ministry of Health; and Vu Anh Tuan, former immigration officer at the Ministry of Public Security, for allegedly taking bribes.

Prior to them, the forces filed the same charges against Nguyen Thi Huong Lan, head of the Consular Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Do Hoang Tung, deputy head of the Consular Department; Le Tuan Anh, head of the department’s office; and Luu Tuan Dung, deputy head of the citizen protection division at the department.

In February this year, the investigative agency asked the Ministry of Transport to provide a detailed list of companies alllowed to arrange repatriation flights for Vietnamese citizens stranded abroad at the height of the pandemic to serve the investigation into the bribery case.

Source: SGT