On August 15-30, the People’s Court of Hanoi is holding the first-instance hearing for a major case, including former Party Secretary of Binh Duong province – Tran Van Nam and former Chairman of Binh Duong provincial People’s Committee – Tran Thanh Liem, along with 26 other defendants. This case involves 2 land plots of 145 ha and 43 ha.
What makes people wonder in this case is, if the People’s Court of Binh Duong province does not have sufficient jurisdiction, it must be transferred to a higher court. The higher court than the provincial court is the Supreme People’s Court. However, it is difficult to understand why the Hanoi People’s Court carries out the case that happened in Binh Duong while the Hanoi City Court and the Binh Duong People’s Court are the same level.
About this case, Thoibao.de has a comment. This is not the normal case, it shows there are fractional division among members of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam. The Ministry of Public Security issued arrest warrants and detention for two former officials of Binh Duong province, not the Hanoi Police Department.
On December 21, the People’s Court of Hanoi also opened another trial, involving the leader of a southern province. Those are former leaders of Dong Nai province who are involved in the bribery case of Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors cum General Director of Advanced International Joint Stock Company (AIC). This case has a total of 35 defendants. Among them are former Secretary of Dong Nai province Tran Dinh Thanh and Dinh Quoc Thai – former Chairman of the People’s Committee of Dong Nai.
Tat Thanh Cang, who is in the same rank of Tran Van Nam (Binh Duong) and Tran Dinh Thanh (Dong Nai), but was arrested by the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department and convicted by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court. Then, why not let the courts of Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces to try them, but the one in Hanoi?
Some people believe that the People’s Court of Hanoi is a tool of the Northern faction. This court will decide crimes according to their own order, so when arresting officials of the Southern wing, the Northern faction often drags them to the North for trial, in order to easily control the sentence. This is a judgment based on what happened, not unreasonal.
With the arrest and then dragged to Hanoi for trial, it can be seen that, it seems that the justice systems of Dong Nai and Binh Duong do not make the Northern fraction feel secure. And if this is true, then clearly, there is a very serious division among members of the Communist Party. The reason why Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong’s side is the strongest force is because he holds the police apparatus. However, with the court system, it seems that Trong has not fully grasped it.
The 13th Congress in early 2021 was a failure of the Southern fraction. The whole Southern region has only 3 Politburo members, which are Mr. Vo Van Thuong, Mr. Nguyen Van Nen and Mr. Tran Thanh Man. Meanwhile, in Nghe An province alone, there are 3 Politburo members, namely Vuong Dinh Hue, Phan Dinh Trac and Nguyen Xuan Thang. Moreover, the arrest of Southern officials brought to the North for trial, shows that the North-South conflict in the Communist Party is real, not assumed.
Currently, the three Southern figures in the Politburo do not represent the Southern power. Mr. Vo Van Thuong is supporting Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong, and Mr. Nguyen Van Nen is the same. And Mr. Tran Thanh Man is Vice Chairman of the National Assembly, a nominal position without real power.
The North-South conflict was probably the strongest outbreak of Nguyen Tan Dung’s time. Mr. Dung and Mr. Trong are considered the most typical political matchup. When Mr. Nguyen Tan Dung lost his position, the southern wing also weakened. Up to now, the Southern faction has been captured and defeated a lot. It seems that the Communist Party is not as united as it has been for so long.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
