hanoi vietnamese police friday arrest former top communist party official suspect misconduct chairman main state energy firm first former politburo member face prosecution decades police issue arrest prosecution order dinh la thang 56 suspect violation state regulations economic management cause serious consequences ministry public security say website thang senior official far catch widespread crackdown fraud energy bank sectors gather pace since security establishment gain great influence party last year police investigate two case relate thang tenure chairman state oil gas firm petrovietnam involve loss investment local ocean bank suspect wrongdoing petrovietnam subsidiary petrovietnam construction joint stock corp pvc pvx.hn police say thang available comment corruption crackdown make global headline august germany accuse vietnam kidnap trinh xuan thanh former chairman pvc berlin apply asylum party say aim let thanh go trial next month government critics voice suspicions corruption crackdown politically motivate least part aim close former prime minister nguyen tan dung lose internal power struggle 2016. development represent major event vietnamese politics reflect concert effort command heights party rein prosecute instance large scale corruption serious case malfeasance among high rank party state officials say vietnam expert jonathan london leiden university thang dismiss politburo communist party find responsible financial losses petrovietnam also strip role party head ho chi minh city penalise prosecute former politburo member one-party state unprecedented 1979 former politburo official hoang van hoan hand death sentence absentia flee country friday police also issue arrest order nguyen quoc khanh former chairman petrovietnam september another former petrovietnam chairman sentence death embezzlement among crimes khanh also temporarily dismiss current role trade ministry friday ministry say statement vietnam police arrest ex-politburo member misconduct