Corruption in Vietnam has long been a very serious problem and has become a painful social problem, eroding people’s trust in the regime.
Although the Communist Party of Vietnam is interested in fighting corruption, this anti-corruption does not produce the desired results. In fact, the more we fight, the more corruption increases.
Public opinion sees that corruption in Vietnam is incurable, because it leaks from above, and corruption is widespread from the central to local levels.
In a previous statement, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, when talking about corruption in Vietnam, admitted that:
“The phenomenon of spoilage, corruption, and negativity is really something that sometimes makes us feel extremely anxious, everywhere we look, everywhere we touch…”
Public opinion sees that, to fight corruption, it is necessary to achieve two goals at the same time: One is to punish corrupt officials; second, the assets lost due to corruption must be recovered.
Before and during the 8th Plenum of the 13th term of the party’s Central Committee, it was reported that a series of “big cases” of corruption were brought to trial, and a series of officials at all levels will be disciplined by the Party for many mistakes.
Among them is the former Secretary and former Chairman of Thanh Hoa province – Mr. Trinh Van Chien. Even well-informed people firmly affirm that Mr. Trinh Van Chien will be probed and arrested right after the 8th Plenum.
Yet, for unknown reasons, until now, Mr. Trinh Van Chien – a leading scandal-ridden official in Thanh Hoa province is still at large.
Mr. Chien is accused of taking hundreds of billions in corruption, related to investment projects of billionaire Trinh Van Quyet’s FLC Group and Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan’s AIC Group.
In addition, Mr. Chien is also famous for the scandal of having an affair and having a child with “hot girl” Quynh Anh, which was famous in 2016.
Instead of Mr. Trinh Van Chien, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Xuong, former Chairman of Thanh Hoa province, was arrested and probed for violations related to the Hac Thanh Tower Project.
According to Thanh Nien newspaper on October 21, in this case, Mr. Xung and his two subordinates were accused of causing state budget loss of VND55.8 billion, but he was not arrested, only forbidden to leave the place of residence.
Thanh Nien newspaper said: “This is a big case in Thanh Hoa province, not only because of the large amount of money lost, but also because many officials and leaders at department and provincial levels are involved in legal proceedings, attracting attention of public opinion and people of Thanh Hoa province.”
It is worth mentioning that Thanh Nien newspaper also revealed that Mr. Nguyen Dinh Xung clarified that, in the Hac Thanh Tower Project, he only followed the orders of Mr. Trinh Van Chien – former Chairman and former Secretary of Thanh Hoa.
Although Mr. Trinh Van Chien’s scandals occurred for nearly 10 years, causing a lot of discussion. Yet, at this 8th Plenum, Mr. Trinh Van Chien was dismissed from all positions in the Party in the past by the Central Committee, not probed and imprisoned as previously rumored. Does that have anything to do with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh – Mr. Chien’s Thanh Hoa compatriot – or not?
The results of the 8th Plenum clearly showed that this is a competition for power and interests between factions within the Party. And the fight against corruption of the Communist Party of Vietnam, initiated by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, is still just a half-baked story without changing anything.
Once, the anti-corruption work was essentially just an internal fight, in the context that any Party official was corrupt, General Secretary Trong for a long time only killed people who were not on his side.
Now Mr. Trong’s strength is exhausted, while Pham Minh Chinh’s position and strength have increased, the anti-corruption work has turned to political compromise.
According to experts, to effectively fight corruption, Vietnam needs to change its legal structure and mechanisms and have an independent judicial system. At the same time, it is necessary to democratize the country, innovate the political system, respect pluralism and citizens’ rights according to the Constitution.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
