Vietnam jails two ex-oil execs for corruption

HANOI: A Hanoi court jailed two former senior oil executives on abuse of power charges Friday, as Vietnam forges ahead with a crackdown on graft.Dozens of high-flying executives and former officials have been ensnared in the hardline communist government´s anti-corruption dragnet, captivating a country unused to seeing powerful figures punished openly.

The latest to fall worked for Vietsovpetro, a Russia-Vietnam joint venture petroleum firm based in the southern port city of Vung Tau, and were arrested last June on charges of "abusing power to appropriate property".

Former director-general Tu Thanh Nghia and ex-chief accountant Vo Quang Huy were sentenced to 3.5 years and seven years respectively, state-controlled Vietnam News Agency reported, with both also banned from holding managerial positions in state agencies and enterprises for three years after their release.

Both men were accused of pocketing excessive interest payments from Ocean Bank, a privately-owned lender already embroiled in its own corruption scandal.