Vietnam jails 50 in mass bribery trial over Covid-19 flights

A court in Vietnam has jailed 54 people, including several high-ranking officials and a former minister, in one of the country's largest ever bribery and corruption cases.

Judges said the accused had extorted money from people taking repatriation flights during the Covid-19 pandemic.

One former minister was sentenced to 16 years in prison for receiving over $900,000 (£700,000) in bribes.

The court's decision comes amid a major anti-graft drive across the government.

After a trial of more than two weeks, the court in Hanoi convicted dozens of ex-officials - including several senior diplomats and a former deputy foreign minister - of receiving, offering or being complicit in bribes, fraud and abusing positions of power.

The defendants were involved in a scheme in which diplomats and businesspeople took money from Vietnamese citizens abroad who wanted to return to the country on repatriation flights during the pandemic, when commercial travel was not available.

The court said the defendants "must be punished seriously".

State-run newspaper VTC reported that 25 state officials were found guilty of taking pay-offs worth a total of $7.4m (£5.8m).