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Dinh La Thang case proves a fair and transparent mechanism in Vietnam’s anti-corruption battle

13/5/17

Justice and transparency are two core values of a democracy, and those days these two have been proved by the State and the Communist Party of Vietnam. For a rare and unsual move, the Party Central Committee’s Inspection Commission has issued disciplinary action and removed Dinh La Thang, a Politburo member and chief of the Party unit in Ho Chi Minh City, for the mismanagement at PetroVietnam, where he served as chair of the Board from 2009 to 2011. It is extremely unusual for the ruling Communist Party to dismiss a senior official from the powerful Politburo.
The Central Committee said in a statement that, despite his contribution to PetroVietnam, his former workplace, Thang committed “serious” shortcomings and violations during his tenure as its board chairman there from 2009 until 2011. Such wrongdoings caused “indignation among Communist Party members, state officers and the public,” warranting the punishment in line with the Party regulations.
The Party Central Committee’s Inspection Commission has found that he was responsible for illegal business decisions, including violations involving an investment in local lender OceanBank and “big bidding packages”, which violated the provisions of the Law on Credit Institutions, thus causing serious losses of VND800 billion to PetroVietnam. The capital contribution to Ocean Bank was part of PetroVietnam’s plan to become a multi-field conglomerate. However, the investment was a bad decision. Ocean Bank, as a weak bank, has been bought by the State Bank at zero dong. The bank's founder and ex-chairman was arrested in 2014.
Thang was also responsible for “advising the Prime Minister to designate many bidding packages that failed to meet legal regulations,” according to the Central Inspection Committee. It said he was responsible for violations of the Law on Bidding related to the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for Dung Quat Biofuel Plant as well as low investment efficiency in a number of projects, including the Dinh Vu Polyester manufacturing plant and bio-energy projects.
An overwhelming majority, over 90 percent, of the Party’s Central Committee, comprising around 200 senior Party members, voted to dismiss Thang. His fall from grace follows other arrests at PetroVietnam and linked companies. Another former PetroVietnam chairman was arrested in 2015 and later expelled from the Communist Party. Three other senior executives are also facing possible sanctions. Last year four senior employees at a construction subsidiary of the firm were prosecuted for mismanagement that allegedly cost the company $150m (£116m).
This act once again proves the Party’s steadfast determination to crack down on corruption as well as malfeasance and efficiency that have plagued the much-cosseted public sector. Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, who is effectively the most powerful man in Vietnam, is serving his second term. He has launched an anti-corruption campaign and has issued resolutions aimed at improving ethical conduct among party members.
 “The Party is clearly concerned about corruption. It is their Achilles heal, and they know it,” Zachary Abuza, a Southeast Asia analyst in Washington, said of recent developments.
“The leadership wants to send a clear message that it is serious about countering corruption, and that even the senior leadership is not above scrutiny,” Abuza said.
For that, it is obvious that the Vietnam’s democracy has its own mechanism to battle corruption and wrongdoings among administrative agencies. So, now Vietnam should be placed a higher position on Transparency International's corruption index./.
Chia sẻ bài viết ^^
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All comments [ 2 ]


Me Too! 13/5/17 13:15

This rare move show the Vietnamese government's commitment to fight corruption in the administration.

Vietnam Love 13/5/17 13:19

There's no "prohibited zone" in anti-corruption campaign!

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