Vietnamese Minister of Health Nguyen Thien Thanh, who was once minister of science and technology, zhu Yuying, chairman of the current Hanoi Municipal People's Committee (equivalent to mayor), and Vice Minister of Science and Technology Pham Kung Tsui, were recently expelled from the party and dismissed from public office.
Screenshot of the Yue News Agency report
On June 4, Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, presided over a meeting of the Politburo and the Secretariat to discuss and decide on the decision to punish the Party Group of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health (term of office 2016-2021), as well as the members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, deputy secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, secretary of the Party Group, chairman of the People's Committee of Hanoi City, former Secretary of the Party Group of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and former Minister of Science and Technology. Nguyen Thanh ThiệnH, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Secretary of the Party Group of the Ministry of Health Fan Gongzhuo, member of the party committee and vice minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, was given a disciplinary punishment.
After deliberating on the recommendations of the Central Inspection Commission, the Politburo and The Secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) considered the violations of the Party Group of the Ministry of Science and Technology (2016-2021) and the Party Group of the Ministry of Health (2016-2021) to be very serious. Comrades Zhu Yuying, Ruan Qinglong, Fan Gongzhuo and other comrades have declined in politics, morality, and work style, violated the party's regulations and the laws of the state, violated the 19th strict prohibition of party members, and the vanguard model responsibility system; Causing very serious consequences, and causing major losses and waste to the state's finances, affecting the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and causing social dissatisfaction; It has a negative impact on the authority of the Party organization, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health.
Based on the content, nature, extent and cause of the violation, and in accordance with the Party's regulations on the handling of violations by Party organizations and Party members, the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam decided to give a warning sanction to the Party Group of the Ministry of Science and Technology (term of office 2016-2021) and the Party Group of the Ministry of Health (term of office 2016-2021), and to expel Fan Gongzhuo from the Party.
The Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam recommended that the Central Committee discuss and decide to impose disciplinary sanctions on Chu Ngoc Eng and Nguyen Thanh Thien, and suggested that the relevant departments strictly follow the regulations to impose administrative sanctions on relevant collectives and individuals.
Both Chu Yuk Ying and Nguyen Thien Thien were members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, so they could not be expelled from the Politburo. On June 6, the 13th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam held an extraordinary meeting at the central headquarters of the Communist Party of Vietnam and further decided to expel Vietnamese Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Thien and Chairman of the Hanoi Municipal People's Committee, Chu Ngoc Anh, from the Party.
Hanoi Municipal People's Committee Chairman Zhu Yug Ying (right) and Health Minister Nguyen Thien Thanh (left) pictured from the Yue News Agency
After being expelled from the party, all three were later dismissed from public office.
Vietnamese Government Vice Premier Pham Binh Minh decided on the 6th to dismiss Vice Minister of Science and Technology Fan Gongzao from public office.
The next day (7th), the 16th People's Assembly of Hanoi City and the Hanoi City Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam held a meeting and decided to dismiss Zhu Yuying from his posts as chairman of the People's Committee and representative of the Municipal People's Assembly. The Vietnamese Parliament also released news on the 7th that the Vietnamese Parliament approved the resolution on the dismissal of Minister of Health Nguyen Thien Thanh. Of the 479 parliamentary delegates, 473 agreed to disqualify Nguyen Thanh Thien National Assembly, and 471 delegates agreed to approve the dismissal of Nguyen Thanh Thiệng from his post as Minister of Health of Vietnam, with a rate of more than 94%.
According to the Vietnam News Agency, the three are suspected of being involved in the corruption case of the new crown testing reagent.
In 2020, Yueya Medical received a $830,000 grant from the Vietnamese government for the production of COVID-19 reagents. Vietnam's Ministry of Health subsequently approved the commercial sale of the kits, priced at $20.57 (about 137 yuan) per test kit. The company allegedly inflated the price of its reagents by 45 percent and made a net profit of about $175 million.
Yueya's COVID-19 test kit. Pictured from the Vietnam News Agency
From February 2021 to September 2021, vietnamese health authorities procured nucleic acid testing reagents from Viet Ya Medical, totaling nearly VND 39 billion (about 11.23 million yuan). However, the company was found to have deliberately inflated the price of the kit and used the spread to make a profit, resulting in the loss of nearly VND 11 billion (about 3.167 million yuan) to Vietnamese hospitals and state property.
In December 2021, Yueya Chairman Pan Guoyue was arrested, confessing to profiting VND4 trillion (1.15 billion yuan) and spending more than VND 800 billion (about 230 million yuan) to bribe officials.
Pan's arrest was just the beginning, and as the case was investigated, more officials were found to be involved in the case. Since then, 21 more people have been investigated, and the amount of assets recovered, sealed and seized has exceeded VND1.6 trillion (about 460 million yuan).
Vietnam is on a wave of anti-corruption, with diplomat magazine noting that by the end of 2020, the Vietnamese government said it had investigated, prosecuted and tried more than 11,700 cases of economic crime. These included 1,900 cases of corruption involving 1,400 suspects, "including a current Politburo member, seven former and current members of the Central Committee, four former and current ministers, and seven military and police generals".
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