Government chief fired after child rape charge

A senior government official in Vietnam has been dismissed after being accused of having sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.

Prime Minister Phan Van Khai fired Luong Quoc Dung, 51, vice chairman of the National Committee for Sports and Physical Culture, citing “special seriousness of his lawbreaking act”.

Dung’s Communist Party membership was also stripped, an official spokesman said in Hanoi.

Police arrested Dung, who was vice minister for sports, on February 19 and launched an official probe into allegations of child rape. He is currently being held in jail awaiting formal charges.

Local media have reported that Dung admitted to police that he had sexual intercourse with the girl.

The victim’s family charged that the girl had been lured by a female neighbour to a hotel room where she was raped by Dung on December 30.

The neighbour, who has surrendered to police, has confessed that Dung had asked her to find a virgin for him.

Rape of a minor under 16 years of age is punishable by life in prison or death.