Despite years of reform and a sweeping anti-corruption campaign, corruption remains deeply embedded in Vietnam’s political, economic, and social systems.
In the Transparency International Corruption Index 2025, Vietnam was ranked 81st out of 182 countries.
This was up from 88 in 2024, with its score rising from 40 to 41, with 100 being the least corrupt and zero being the most corrupt.
With this in mind, this overview runs through the basics of corruption in Vietnam that foreign firms looking to enter the market should know.
Corruption in Vietnam in numbers
From routine licensing procedures to regulatory inspections and court proceedings, many firms continue to encounter — and often accept — corrupt practices as part of doing business. T
he following figures illustrate the scale and persistence of these challenges.
Provincial Competitiveness Index 2024
The 2024 Vietnam Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) reveals persistent challenges surrounding informal charges and rent-seeking behaviours in the business environment.
Despite a national anti-corruption campaign gaining momentum in recent years, the data suggests that informal payments remain deeply embedded across administrative and regulatory touch-points.
PCI 2024, Criteria 5: Informal charges
| Details | National Average |
| Firms in my line of business usually have to pay for informal charges | 39.43% |
| Percentage of firms saying that informal charges usually or always deliver expected results | 59.98% |
| Rent-seeking phenomenon is popular in handling administrative procedures for businesses | 67.61% |
| Informal charges are at acceptable levels | 81.91% |
| % of firms paying informal payments to inspectors | 27.96% |
| % of firms paying informal charges in business registration / re-registration | 28.19% |
| % of firms paying informal charges when implementing sub-license procedures | 55.65% |
| % of firms paying informal charges to fire safety inspectors | 29.02% |
| % of firms paying informal charges to environment inspectors | 48.51% |
| % of firms paying informal charges to market regulators | 25.46% |
| % of firms paying informal charges to tax inspectors | 35.45% |
| % of firms paying informal charges to construction inspectors | 21.21% |
| % of firms paying over 10 percent of their revenue for informal charges | 2.77% |
| % of firms paying informal charges in land APs | 51.13% |
| Paying a “commission” is essential to improve chances of winning the contract | 31.23% |
| Offering bribes to solicit favourable judgment is common (%) | 43.24% |
Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI)
The 2024 Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) offers a detailed snapshot of how citizens experience and perceive corruption in local government, public services, and recruitment.
While there are signs of progress—such as high rates of people reporting not being asked for bribes—data also reveals ongoing challenges in areas like land use, administrative paperwork, and healthcare access.
The figures below highlight the nuanced state of corruption control and anti-corruption determination across Vietnam’s public sector.
PAPI 2024, Dimension 4: Control of corruption in the public sector, national averages
| 4.1: Control of corruption in local government | National Average |
| Government officials do NOT use public funds for private purposes | 68.86% |
| People do NOT have to pay extra money to receive land use right certificates | 62.90% |
| People do NOT have to pay extra money to receive construction permits | 65.75% |
| People do NOT have to pay extra money to officials when doing certification and confirmation | 24.12% |
| People do NOT have to pay extra money when doing administrative procedures at the People’s Committee at the commune level | 19.34% |
| 4.2: Control of corruption in public service provision | |
| People do NOT have to pay extra money to receive more attention when going to the hospital | 70.40% |
| Parents of primary school students do NOT have to pay extra money to receive more attention for their children | 73.95% |
| 4.3: Public in public sector recruitment | |
| Proportion of respondents who said they did NOT have to pay a ‘bribe’ to get a job in a state agency | 55.70% |
| Personal relationships with people in authority are not important when applying for one of the five positions asked (0=very important; 5=not important at all) | 1.69 |
| 4.4: Determination to fight corruption of local authorities | |
| People who said they were NOT asked for a bribe in the past 12 months | 97.01% |
| People who said their provincial/municipal government has seriously handled corruption cases in their locality | 54.42% |
| Amount of bribe people started reporting (unit: 1000 VND) | 32,397 |
| People who were asked to report the bribe | 2.48% |
| Proportion of people who had to ‘pay’ for red book procedures | 46.60% |
| Proportion of people (with relatives or themselves) who had to ‘pay’ for treatment at district/county hospitals | 46.68% |
Petty corruption in Vietnam
Corruption is spread throughout Vietnamese society and, in many ways has become normalised.
It’s not unusual for police officers to take cash on the spot for traffic violations.
This often ends up in their pockets rather than state coffers.
This kind of petty corruption can be challenging to avoid.
At times, foreigners can engage in petty corruption without even knowing it – it is common for traffic fines to legitimately be paid at the time a fine is issued rather than to have fines sent to perpetrators in the mail.
As such, it’s difficult to know if a fine is being paid or a bribe.
Furthermore, foreign firms using local agencies and local staff may find that small bribes are being paid on their behalf to speed up visa applications and project approvals.
Wages in the pubic sector are very low, particularly in entry-level positions, and this kind of corruption is used by these public service employees to supplement their income.
Box 1: Avoiding corruption risk in Vietnam
Foreign firms operating in Vietnam can reduce their exposure to corruption-related risks by:
- Conducting thorough due diligence on local partners, contractors, and consultants—particularly when interacting with government offices.
- Implementing a strict internal compliance program, including anti-bribery clauses in all contracts and a whistleblower policy.
- Training local staff and managers regularly on international anti-corruption laws like the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) or the UK Bribery Act.
- Avoiding the use of intermediaries unless absolutely necessary and ensuring they are contractually bound to ethical conduct.
- Documenting all payments, gifts, and facilitation fees—even small ones—for internal review and audit purposes.
These steps won’t eliminate risk entirely, but can help foreign investors demonstrate good-faith compliance if scrutiny arises.
Bribery in Vietnam
Bribery is defined under Article 364 of Vietnam’s Criminal Code 2015. Specifically, it states that:
“Any person who directly or through an intermediary gives or promises to give any… benefits to an office holder or another person or organisation in order to influence him/her to perform or not to perform certain tasks in the interests of or at the request of the bribe giver shall be liable to a fine of from VND 20,000,000 (US$780) to VND 200,000,000 (US$7,800) or face a penalty of up to 3 years community sentence or 6 to 36 months imprisonment.”
These fines are relatively low, comparatively speaking.
The minimum wage in Vietnam is about US$200, and therefore, this has done little to deter offenders from engaging in bribery.
The Van Thinh Phat Scandal
Probably one of the most well-known cases of corruption in Vietnam in recent years was that of Truong My Lan.
The head of real estate firm Van Tinh Phat, Lan reportedly embezzled some US$12.5 billion through falsified bank loans issued to her real estate company through a bank in which she also had a controlling interest.
This made global news firstly because it was such a phenomenally huge amount, and then because Lan was given a death sentence for her crimes.
More to the point, however, Lan bribed several State Bank officials with millions of dollars to look the other way when she was issuing her myriad of fake loans.
Grand corruption in Vietnam
There have been a number of cases of grand corruption in Vietnam in recent years whereby high-level officials have abused their power to pilfer from state coffers.
In just the last two years or so, several leaders at the top of Vietnamese politics have resigned after being caught up in corruption investigations.
Viet-A COVID-19 Test Kit Scandal
One of the most well-known cases of grand corruption in recent times was the Viet-A COVID-19 test kit scandal. Essentially, a medical supplies company was producing test kits that it claimed were World Health Organisation-approved but were not.
It was then selling these to health departments around the country at inflated prices and paying local health officials a cut.
This was, however, uncovered with a broad investigation that roped in a number of officials, as well as the Minister of Health at the time, Nguyen Thanh Long.
Judicial corruption in Vietnam
Judicial corruption in Vietnam refers to the abuse of judicial authority for personal gain.
It typically involves bribery, favouritism, or influence-peddling, where litigants, defendants, or their families pay money to secure lighter sentences, favourable rulings, or procedural delays.
Brokers such as lawyers, clerks, or associates often act as intermediaries, ensuring that funds reach judges or officials.
This practice, known locally as “chạy án” (case running), undermines public trust in the legal system by turning verdicts into commodities rather than impartial decisions.
CASE STUDY: 28 prosecuted as bribery scandal lays bare corruption in Vietnam’s court system
In September 2025, it was reported that Vietnam’s Supreme People’s Procuracy charged 28 people in connection with a court bribery ring spanning 20 cases between 2022 and 2024.
The accused included judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and litigants who exchanged more than VND 11.4 billion (US$456,000) to influence verdicts.
Bribes were routed through layers of brokers — often court staff, relatives, or lawyers — with each taking a cut before the money reached a judge.
Payments bought lighter sentences, overturned rulings, blocked appeals, or delayed hearings, exposing a system where judicial outcomes were treated as transactions.
Media corruption in Vietnam
Media corruption in Vietnam has become fairly normalised.
This is generally done through the practice of gift-giving, whereby media relations professionals provide reporters with gifts to encourage favourable coverage.
This is often in the form of cash in an envelope handed over when reporters check in at an event. It is not common for reporters to declare these gifts in their reporting.
CASE STUDY: Vietnam police accuse local editor of 82 counts of extortion
In May of 2025, Dong Xuan Thu, former editor-in-chief of Vietnam Environment and Urban magazine, was accused of involvement in 82 cases of property extortion by the Thai Binh Police.
He allegedly directed reporters to write negative articles about local businesses, then used those articles as leverage to pressure subjects to pay to have them taken down.
According to investigators, once targets were confronted with damaging articles, they were encouraged to resolve the issue by contributing funds to charity organisations established by the publication.
These funds were then distributed internally among reporters, departments, and representative offices. Police identified 42 defendants in total, including Thu, and said the group extorted VND 5 billion, or approximately US$192,300.
See also: Vietnam’s News Media Industry: Digital Trends, Censorship, and Market Outlook
Corruption in sports in Vietnam
Professional sports leagues in Vietnam have struggled to develop on the back of limited investment and low pay for sports players that has resulted in players developing side hustles like match-fixing.
The Vietnamese Premier League was voted the third most corrupt league in the world back in 2016, and not much has been done to clean up Vietnamese soccer since.
As recently as February, five players were charged for match fixing.
It extends to less traditional sports as well. A total of 32 players and coaches were suspended from the Vietnam Championship Series of the video game League of Legends, earlier this year, after allegations of match-fixing surfaced.
The allegations came to light back in March and saw the competition suspended while an investigation took place.
Box 3: FIFA demotes Vietnam’s Phu Tho FC over match-fixing
Vietnamese club Phu Tho FC was demoted to the Third Division — the lowest tier in Vietnam’s football league system — after being found guilty of manipulating match results, according to a FIFA disciplinary ruling issued in May of 2025.
Though specifics were not provided, it was reported that this was linked to suspicious performance patterns during the 2023–2024 season, where Phu Tho was relegated after scoring just 6 goals and conceding 43 across 20 matches.
See also: Gambling in Vietnam: Laws, Casinos & Betting Landscape
Corruption in Vietnam for foreign firms
Greasing the wheels in Vietnam can make doing business nominally easier and faster.
Prosecutions of acts of corruption are often well beyond the volume of corruption taking place.
That said, foreign firms should be mindful that there is legislation in most countries that prohibits engaging in corruption abroad, whereby companies in the United States engaged in corrupt activities in Vietnam can be prosecuted in the United States for said acts.
In the US, this is codified in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, of which there are similar laws in most developed economies.
Securency and Note Printing Australia
In 2009, the Australian Federal Police opened an investigation into Securency and Note Printing Australia, who had allegedly bribed officials of Malaysia, Nepal, Indonesia and Vietnam to secure contracts to provide these countries with polymer banknotes.
The investigation and subsequent prosecution would last for ten years, wrapping up in 2018, with the two companies fined AU$21 million for bribery.
Albemarle Corporation
In September of 2023, chemicals manufacturer Albemarle Corporation was fined US$218 million under the United States’ Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The company had admitted to paying bribes through third parties and the employees of its subsidiaries to gain contracts with two state-owned oil refineries in Vietnam, as well as a handful of other countries.
FAQ: Corruption in Vietnam
There are some of the most common questions about corruption in Vietnam.
Does Vietnam have corruption?
In the 2024 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, Vietnam was ranked 88 out of 180 countries.
What is petty corruption like in Vietnam?
Petty corruption is common and somewhat normalised in Vietnam, often involving small cash payments to officials (like police for traffic violations) that may not reach state coffers.
Foreigners can unknowingly participate in such corruption.
How is bribery defined by law in Vietnam?
Bribery is defined as directly or through an intermediary giving or promising benefits to an office holder or another person / organisation to influence them to perform or not perform certain tasks for the bribe giver’s interests.
What was the Van Thinh Phat scandal about?
The Van Thinh Phat scandal involved Truong My Lan, head of a real estate firm, who reportedly embezzled around US$12.5 billion through falsified bank loans and bribed State Bank officials to overlook her actions.
Why should foreign firms be cautious about engaging in corruption in Vietnam?
Foreign firms should be cautious because many countries, including the US with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, have legislation that prohibits engaging in corruption abroad, which can lead to significant fines and even imprisonment if such activities are uncovered.
What’s next?
Corruption in Vietnam is a challenge that many foreign firms will come across doing business in Vietnam.
While it can be tempting to pay for a faster approval or to secure a contract, the reality is that, if this conduct is uncovered, it can be costly in terms of fiduciary penalties and can even result in prison time.
In this light, foreign firms should make clear to their local partners that bribery is off the cards and should do their due diligence to ensure deals made through local firms are all above board.
They should also make sure they are abreast of the latest developments in Vietnam’s attempts to bring corruption under control by subscribing to the-shiv.
First published May 27, 2024. Last updated February 10, 2026.