Vietnamese corruption probe accelerates with axing of Hanoi mayor

Vietnam’s broad anti-corruption push gained momentum with Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long’s expulsion from the Communist Party, one of the highest-ranking government officials this year to be swept up in investigations into executives from the stock market to the coast guard.

Long, along with Hanoi Mayor Chu Ngoc Anh, were dismissed from the party by the Central Inspection Committee after violating its rules and state regulations that caused “huge losses,” wasted state budget resources and affected the anti-Covid-19 campaign, according to a post on the government’s website. The committee urged government agencies to “promptly” weigh administrative punishments against the two officials.

The latest moves come amid investigations into a wide range of alleged illicit activity, from stock price manipulation to property fraud. The probes have led to the firings of State Securities Commission Chairman Tran Van Dung and the head of the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, the detention of former high-ranking coast guard officials and executives including the former chairman of Bamboo Airways and its parent FLC Group, Trinh Van Quyet; Tri Viet Securities former chief executive officer Do Duc Nam and Louis Holdings former chairman Do Thanh Nhan.

The committee said in a March 31 statement that Long, Anh and other officials at the ministries of health and science and technology were jointly responsible for violations and shortcomings involved in supervising, licensing, price negotiations and purchases of Covid-19 test kits of Viet A Technology.

The government also fired Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Pham Cong Tac for violations and wrongdoings at work, according to a separate post on the government’s website. Tac was first dismissed from the party on Saturday.

By Mai Ngoc Chau – Bloomberg – June 7, 2022