Vietnam jails more officials over Covid-19 flight bribes

Hanoi: A court in Vietnam on Friday jailed more than a dozen officials for up to 12 years for corruption over repatriation flights and quarantine duri...

Hanoi: A court in Vietnam on Friday jailed more than a dozen officials for up to 12 years for corruption over repatriation flights and quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The case is part of a major anti-graft drive that has led to the resignation of a president and two deputy prime ministers in a country where political changes are usually carefully orchestrated.

Last year, 54 officials and businesspeople were found guilty of receiving, offering or acting as go-between for bribes that state media said totalled $9.5 million.

They included four former senior officials at the ministries of foreign affairs, health and public security, who were handed life sentences.

At the height of the pandemic in early 2020 Vietnam had closed its borders to almost everyone bar returning citizens.