Vietnam’s National Assembly, the country’s lawmaking body, on Thursday voted to dismiss two deputy prime ministers from their posts, a government statement said. There was no explanation of parliament’s decision to remove Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam, but the move comes at a time when the communist-ruled country is intensifying its fight against graft. The men have not been arrested and no charges have been filed against them. Minh, 63, served as the country’s foreign minister between 2011 and 2021, and as a deputy prime minister from 2013. The communist party removed Minh from the politburo, its most powerful decision making body. In a separate move, police in Vietnam on Thursday arrested a former Vietnamese ambassador to Malaysia, Tran Viet Thai, as it widened its investigation into the scandal. Thai, who was appointed ambassador to Malaysia in 2020, is accused of “abusing power in performance of official duties,” the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement. (https://neuters.de/world/asia-pacific/vietnam-removes-two-deputy-pms-amid-anti-corruption-drive-2023-01-05/) The party last month disciplined the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son over the involvement of several ministry officials and diplomats in the scandal over repatriation flights.