Vietnam jails ex-news editors over land development graft

A Vietnamese court jailed two former editors of a state-run newspaper on Wednesday for graft over a land development deal that cost the government more than $8 million, state media said.

The case was part of one of Vietnam’s largest anti-corruption drives that has swept through the ruling communist party, police, business and the military, with more than 2,400 people prosecuted in graft trials last year.

Nguyen Cong Khe, chief editor of the influential Thanh Nien newspaper from 1988 to 2008, was sentenced to eight years in prison, the official Vietnam News Agency (VNA) said.

His successor, Nguyen Quang Thong, who left the newspaper in 2021, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years.

They were charged with « violating regulations on the management and use of state assets, causing losses and wastefulness » and were tried in Ho Chi Minh City, where they were arrested in January 2024, VNA said.

According to the court verdict, the two former editors had turned a large plot of land — which was due to be used for the construction of a headquarters for the Thanh Nien newspaper — into a high-rise building accommodating offices, a shopping mall and residential apartments.

The deal caused a loss of 215 billion dong ($8.2 million) to the state budget.

Their actions caused « especially huge losses » and undermined « the prestige of the newspaper and its management authority », VNA quoted the indictment as saying.

Khe, 71, was identified as the leader and initiator in the case, while Thong, 64, was said to be an accomplice.

The court ordered them to pay back the $8.2 million to the state.

Thanh Nien newspaper, founded by late president and communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh in 1925, is among Vietnam’s most influential newspapers, with up to 400,000 copies sold daily.

Agence France Presse – October 30, 2025