Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam. In March 2008, charges against Nguyễn Việt Tiến were dropped and his Communist Party membership was later reinstated. Role of the press The scandal is notable in that the press was initially allowed to report on the issue in great depth. Several years earlier, such topics were taboo in the Vietnamese press, as the Communist Party keeps a tight grip on the media. Major newspapers openly ridiculed the officials involved and called for their resignations. Some observers attribute this to internal conflicts within the party between reformers and hardliners. Others see this as a normal occurrence before every National Congress and expect things to return to normal after the Congress ends. In mid-2007, police questioned dozens of journalists who covered the case for the sources of certain published information. In May 2008, two reporters were arrested for "abuse of power for personal gain" while reporting about the scandal. In addition, several senior police officers involved with the case, including the major general in charge, were indicted for revealing certain information about the case to the press. The arrests unleashed a torrent of protests from journalists and bloggers in Vietnam, leading to a highly unusual confrontation between the state-controlled press and the communist government. However, several days later, the newspapers were silent on the topic, and newspapers that continued to report it reportedly received warnings from the authorities. In October, the journalists were convicted of "abusing democratic freedoms" and propagating "false informations" and the police officers were convicted of "disclosing work secret". References External links Vietnam Communists meet in crisis Communist debate grips Vietnam Vietnamese ministry hit by scandal Special reports about the scandal – Tuổi Trẻ newspaper Political scandals 2006 in politics Politics of Vietnam 2006 in Vietnam 2007 in Vietnam 2008 in Vietnam Political scandals in Vietnam