Mr. Le Thanh Hai, once one of the most famous and powerful politicians in Vietnam, was told by the Central Inspection Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam to be disciplined as a must. A number of officials have also been named for disciplinary action, but the most expected person, Tat Thanh Cang, has not been listed.
Mr. Le Thanh Hai, former Politburo member, and former Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City’s Party Committee, retired after the 12th Party Congress in 2016.
The Central Inspection Commission’s January 8 statement stated that a series of senior leaders of HCM City for the period of 2010-2016 had violated the implementation of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area project.
According to the statement: “The Standing Committee of Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee and Party Committee of the People’s Committee of HCM City violated the principle of democratic centralism and working regulations, irresponsibility, lax leadership, direction and lack of control. inspecting and supervising, and as a result, caused many serious violations and shortcomings in the process of implementing investment projects of Thu Thiem New Urban Area, with very serious consequences and huge damage to the State’s money and properties as well as adversely affection on the city’s socio-economic development and the life of a part of the local people, and annoyance in the society.”
The Central Inspection Commission named specifically the following people who have violated:
Le Thanh Hai, former Politburo member, former secretary of HCM City Party Committee is responsible for the violations and shortcomings of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee.
Le Hoang Quan, former member of the Party Central Committee, former deputy secretary of the City Party Committee, former secretary of the party committee of the People’s Committee, former chairman of the City People’s Committee is jointly responsible for the violations and shortcomings of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee and are responsible for main issues regarding the violations and shortcomings of the party committee of the City People’s Committee
Nguyen Van Dua, former deputy secretary of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, former member of the party committee of the People’s Committee, former vice chairman of the City People’s Committee and Nguyen Thi Hong, Le Van Khoa, former members of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, former members of the party committee of the People’s Committee, former deputy chairpersons of city People’s Committee; Vu Hung Viet, former vice chairman of the city People’s Committee is jointly responsible for the violations and shortcomings of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, of the city People’s Committee and personal responsibility in perform assigned duties and duties.
The Central Inspection Commission said the violations of these people “have adversely affected the prestige of the Party committees and the city government, causing public anger in society, to the point that disciplinary actions have to be taken.”
The BBC’s own sources believe that the minimum level of discipline Mr. Le Thanh Hai is facing may be a “warning.”
Since being re-elected at the 12th Party Congress in 2016, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has stepped up the inspection and enforcement of the party discipline.
In 2017 and 2018, 56 senior officials were disciplined by the party, including 11 members and former members of the party’s Central Committee while former Politburo member Dinh La. Thang was expelled from the party.
Government Inspectorate talked about Thu Thiem
In June 2019, the Government Inspectorate transferred the Thu Thiem inspection conclusions to the Central Inspection Committee for review and consider party disciplinary actions against them.
Thu Thiem new urban area in HCM City has been mastered since 1993, located in Thu Thiem peninsula, opposite to the center of District 1 across Saigon River, including the wards of An Khanh, Thu Thiem and An Loi Dong, a part of Binh An and Binh Khanh wards in District 2.
The conclusion of the Government Inspectorate is about the main causes and responsibilities leading to the defects and violations in the Thu Thiem project.
They believe that the objective cause is:
Difficulties and unpredictable changes in the economy and society at home and abroad; especially the real estate market has many abnormal bad developments, constantly changing, sometimes going down, difficult to attract investors;
The mechanism of implementing Thu Thiem New Urban Area investment management as well as the mechanism of payment by clean land fund for BT projects is unclear, has many limitations and is difficult to implement.
Government Inspectorate said the subjective cause was:
The awareness and compliance with the guidelines of the prime minister and the guidance of the ministries, branches as well as the provisions of law are not correct, incomplete, sometimes not strictly in the management and direction of Executive of City People’s Committee and departments, branches; coordination between departments, branches of the City is still delayed, not clearly defining responsibilities and obligations;
Some places also show the irresponsibility, laxity in investment and construction management, many violations have not been checked and dealt with promptly.
As a result, many defects, violations, wastefulness have occurred, and the risk of losing money of the state with great value has occurred. Overall, up to the time of inspection, the investment in Thu Thiem New Urban Area is not effective with financial imbalance.
Hoang Trung Hai, Tat Thanh Cang, Nguyen Thanh Tai (lower row, from left)
The Politburo will consider disciplining Mr. Hoang Trung Hai
Also in the January 8 announcement, the Central Inspection Committee proposed the Politburo to consider and execute the discipline against Mr. Hoang Trung Hai, Politburo member and secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, former deputy prime minister.
Mr. Hoang Trung Hai’s mistake was first mentioned on December 9, 2019, when the Party’s Disciplinary Committee said Mr. Hai, during his time as a deputy PM had violations and shortcomings when giving some directing comments to the Thep Thai Nguyen (TISCO) II Project.
This is the project of production expansion phase II – Thai Nguyen Steel Company of the state-owned enterprise Vietnam Steel Corporation (VSC).
Mr. Hoang Trung Hai was a deputy PM from 2007 to 2016
The January 8 notice states the level of discipline involved in the project:
Expelled from the Party: Mai Van Tinh, former secretary of the VSC’s party Committee, former chairman of the VSC Board of Directors; Dau Van Hung, former deputy secretary of the VSC Party Committee, former VSC general director; Tran Van Kham, former secretary of the VSC Party Committee, former chairman of the VSC Board of Directors; Tran Trong Mung, former secretary of the VSC Party Committee, former VSC general director; and Ngo Sy Han, former member of Standing Committee of VSC Party Committee, former VSC deputy general director.
Warnings: to Van Trong Ly, former deputy chairman of the Government Office; Nguyen Van Tai, senior official of the Government Office; Do Canh Duong, director general of the General Department of Geology and Minerals, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, former official of the Government Office.
Reprimanded: Nguyen Huu Vu, former deputy chairman of the Government Office; Dang Thuc Khang, former secretary of the Party Committee, former chairman of the Board of Directors; Le Phu Hung, former deputy secretary of the Party Committee, former general director of VSC.
Trung Nam from Da Nang – Thoibao.de, Thu Thuy translated
Source: BBC
