A court in Vietnam sentenced one former official from state oil and gas group PetroVietnam to life in prison and another to 13 years on Monday for embezzlement and violating state rules amid a widespread corruption crackdown, state media said.

Dinh La Thang, a former politburo official and the most senior Vietnamese politician to be tried in decades, was jailed for 13 years for violating state rules, the state-run Voice of Vietnam said.

Trinh Xuan Thanh, a high-profile official whom Germany said Vietnamese agents kidnapped in a Berlin park in a scene reminiscent of Cold War disappearances, was sentenced to life in prison for embezzlement and violating state rules.