Vietnamese bankers held in scandal

Vietnamese bankers held in scandal

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (Reuter): Banking officials in Ho Chi Minh City said yesterday that police had detained seven senior banking executives in the latest twist to a debt scandal surrounding two of Vietnam's largest conglomerates.

The officials said that the five senior Incombank employees and two executives from the country's biggest state-owned bank, Vietcombank, were arrested Saturday.

The arrests were the latest in a widening scandal surrounding debt-crippled firms Minh Phung and EPCO, whose directors were detained in March and subsequently charged with fraud.

More than 20 others have been arrested since then in a case whose scale and repercussions are continuing to emerge.