Vietnam police detained the nation’s deputy trade minister on graft-related charges, as part of an ongoing drive to root out corruption in the Southeast Asian communist country. 

Do Thang Hai was held for allegedly taking bribe amid an investigation tied to Xuyen Viet Oil Travel and Transport Trading Company, according to a statement on the Ministry of Public Security’s website Thursday. Earlier this month, a former leader of the Mekong Delta province was held as part of the same probe. 

Hai’s detention came within a day of the Communist Party calling for disciplinary action against him and others, including a former deputy prime minister, over lapses in governance. The party’s Central Inspection Commission recommended the action after a probe into the functioning of the Ministry of Industry and Trade found some “serious violations,” according to a separate statement late Wednesday. 

The call for action follows a wide-ranging crackdown on corruption since 2021 — spanning both the public and private sectors — that has ensnared top political leaders and industry captains. The campaign has drawn comparisons with neighboring China, also a one-party state that has seen a string of anti-corruption purges.

Earlier this week, a prominent businesswoman neared trial in an alleged fraud that resulted in over $12.5 billion of losses to a local lender.

The Communist Party’s inspection panel had found lapses pertaining to managing gasoline and oil supply as well as in the management and use of the two commodities’ price stabilization fund. It had also detected violations in regulating development mechanisms for solar and wind power policy that potentially carry huge costs to the state in terms of money and assets, according to a separate statement. 

Xuyen Viet Oil, among the nation’s 40 key petroleum traders, had its license for exporting and importing petroleum scrapped in August by the trade ministry over fuel distribution violations, a public ministry publication had reported previously.

Besides Hai, the inspection commission had named former deputy prime minister Trinh Dinh Dung, politburo member and former trade minister Tran Tuan Anh and Vietnam Oil and Gas Group Chairman Hoang Quoc Vuong as those responsible for violations. 

Hai couldn’t be reached for comments after the report of his detention. While Tran Tuan Anh and Dung were unavailable on calls, a representative of Vietnam Oil and Gas wasn’t reachable for comments.

The suggestion for disciplinary action comes amid a wide-ranging crackdown on corruption since 2021 — spanning both the public and private sectors — that has ensnared top political leaders and industry captains. The campaign has drawn comparisons with neighboring China, also a one-party state that has seen a string of anti-corruption purges.