PetroVietnam ex-chairman held on suspected fraud-police

Police in Vietnam said on Tuesday they had detained the recently ousted chairman of state oil and gas company PetroVietnam on suspicion of fraud while he was leading the banking unit of conglomerate Ocean Group.

 

The country's economic police department said in a statement on the police website Nguyen Xuan Son, when general manager of Ocean Group's Ocean Commercial Bank unit, had abused his position of power and "deliberately acted against state regulations of economic management and caused serious consequences".
 

No-one at PetroVietnam, Ocean Group or Ocean Commercial Bank could immediately be reached for comment outside regular Vietnamese office hours.

 

Son was removed from the chairmanship of PetroVietnam on Sunday by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, the government news website said.

 

Son's detention comes after Vietnamese police in October detained Ocean Group founder and chairman Ha Van Tham on suspicion of financial irregularities.

 

Unlisted Ocean Commercial Bank was taken over earlier this year by the State Bank of Vietnam, which said it had suffered serious financial losses and the acquisition would help ensure the safety of the banking system.

 

Ocean Group shares have plunged around 80 percent since its founder's arrest in October.