The head of e-commerce at VietJetAir (VJ, Hanoi Noi Bai International) is under house arrest after allegedly providing bribes to secure for-profit Covid-19 repatriation flights, the online daily VnExpress and other local media outlets reported. Nguyen Manh Cuong was arrested by Vietnamese officials in mid-September, along with several other individuals, pending an investigation into his alleged activities.
Between the start of the pandemic and mid-2021, Vietnamese airlines including VietJetAir operated 372 repatriation flights. Prosecuting authorities allege that multiple entities and individuals gave or received bribes 515 times, with a total value of VND165 billion dong (USD6.8 million).
Aside from Nguyen, four other people were arrested on the same day, including a former deputy head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam’s Aviation Transport Department. ch-aviation does not say that the allegations are true, only that they have been made.
The arrests are the latest instalment in a long-running bribery investigation, which saw 54 people found guilty and sentenced in relation to the matter in the Hanoi People’s Court in July. Four now-former government officials from the departments of foreign affairs, transport, public health, and immigration received life sentences, while others received prison terms of ten-plus years. Prosecutors say the investigation has moved to “phase two.”