Hanoi chairman arrested over acquisition of ‘secret state documents’

Vietnamese police has announced that they had arrested Hanoi city Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung, who been linked to three separate criminal cases including the appropriation of secret state documents, misuse of state assets and a cross-border smuggling group.

Chung would be detained for at least four months for “appropriating documents containing state secrets,” Vietnamese police had said in a statement on their website on Friday.

He has also been linked to a criminal investigation into Nhat Cuong, a technology firm and mobile phone supplier, which allegedly smuggled vast amounts of electronic equipment into Vietnam while hiding the profits the group amassed.

Vietnamese police claim criminal dealings carried about by Nhat Cuong, and the company’s former director, Bui Quang Huy, led to a loss of 43 million dollars from the state budget.

On August 11, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc agreed to suspend Chung for 90 days.

Prior to his fall from grace, Chung was considered a rising star of the political establishment.

Chung, former police chief of Hanoi, took up the position of Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee in late 2015, with many saying he was destined for a position in the Vietnamese Politburo – the most powerful body of the Vietnamese Communist Party.

Police also announced they were searching Chung’s house on Friday. No date has yet been set for when Chung’s case will go to trial.

Deutsche Presse Agentur – August 30, 2020