Police in Vietnam have arrested the former chairman of a joint-venture of state-run oil and gas giant PetroVietnam (PVN) for alleged embezzlement of property.

The Investigation Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security confirmed on Saturday it had apprehended and started legal proceedings against Dinh Manh Thang, 55, former chairman of the management board of the Petro Song Da Trading and Investment JSC, a joint-venture between PVN and Song Da Corporation.

The decision was approved by the Supreme People’s Procuracy.

Thang’s arrest is aimed at assisting the investigations into his embezzlement of property , and links to a case of deliberately violating state regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences in the PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corporation (PVC).

Investigators are currently expanding their probing into two economic violation cases, one of which is the deliberate violation of state regulations on economic management causing serious consequence at PVC and the Thai Binh 2 thermal power project.

The other case is the deliberate violation of state regulations on economic management causing serious consequence and abuse of position and power to appropriate property, resulting in loss of VND800 billion (US$35.24 million) in PVN’s investment in Oceanbank.

Earlier on Friday, arrested and launched legal proceedings against Dinh La Thang, former chairman of PVN’s board of members to serve the investigation of these two serious economic cases.

Dinh La Thang is Dinh Manh Thang’s older brother. He is a former member of the Party Central Committee and ex-deputy head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission.

Another ex-PVN official, Nguyen Quoc Khanh, was also captured on the same day for being involved in the offenses.

Born in 1962, Dinh Manh Thang holds a master’s degree in business administration and became the chairman of the board of directors at Petro Song Da Trading and Investment JSC in May 2006.

In March, he stepped down from the post and become a member of the firm’s management board for personal reasons.

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