Vietnam jails former politburo official for 13 years in graft crackdown

By Mai Nguyen and James Pearson HANOI (Reuters) – A court in Vietnam on Monday sentenced a former politburo official to 13 years in prison and another high-profile energy official to life imprisonment for embezzlement and violating state rules, in a corruption crackdown, state media said. Dinh La Thang, a former politburo official and the most senior Vietnamese politician tried in decades, was jailed for 13 years for “deliberate violation of state regulations on economic management that caused serious consequences,” state-run Voice of Vietnam and the Vietnam News Agency said.