The Central Inspection Committee, the party's top watchdog, has asked the party's decision-making Politburo and the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee to take disciplinary action against Admiral Nguyen Van Hien, former Vice Minister of National Defense, and Vice Admiral Nguyen Van Tinh. Hien and Tinh were former members of the Party Central Committee.

The committee also issued an official warning to Rear Admiral Le Van Dao at a three-day meeting that closed in Hanoi last Friday, the committee said in a statement Monday.

The Communist Party of Vietnam has four modes of punishment against members: reprimand, warning, demotion and expulsion.

In April, the committee had concluded that the Standing Committee of the People’s Navy's Party unit had committed several serious violations.

It had violated the principle of democratic centralism, broken working regulations, and been negligent in leading, managing, inspecting and supervising, resulting in violations on using national defense land.

Their violations resulted in major financial losses and badly affected the reputation of the Communist Party and the People’s Navy, the committee said.

Over the past three years a sweeping corruption crackdown spearheaded by Party chief and President Nguyen Phu Trong has ensnared scores of high-profile officials, especially in the energy and banking sectors.

Last year a large number of officials and businesspeople were prosecuted for corruption charges.

In April 2018, Colonel Dinh Ngoc He became the first senior military official to be imprisoned. He was sentenced to 12 years for "abusing power in the performance of official duties" and "using fake documents."

In July two senior Air Force officers and the party units they were affiliated to received official warnings for mismanagement of military land.

Several top former officials in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, the latter considered the country's third most important city, are also being investigated for mismanagement of public land.