"Once a pig is fattened, it's time to slaughter it. This old saying is extremely appropriate in Vietnam today. In recent years, the Vietnamese government has launched a high-profile campaign against corruption, and many powerful and wealthy people have been brought to justice one by one, causing an uproar.
Zhang Meilan at the scene of the trial
This matter starts with the tragic experience of the richest man in Vietnam, Zhang Meilan, the richest woman of Vietnamese descent originally from Chaoshan, China, who has built a number of landmark buildings on Nguyen Hue Avenue in Ho Chi Minh City, and created the business empire of VTP Group with her husband Zhu Liji, who would have thought that she would be sentenced to death by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court on April 11, 2024.
According to Bloomberg and Reuters reports, Zhang Meilan falsified more than 900 loan materials to meet her personal needs, thereby defrauding banks of up to $12 billion in loans. Due to her insolvency, she has become another Evergrande Xu Jiayin, and after months of investigation and trial, the Vietnamese police have finally sorted out the seriousness of Truong My Lan's crime, which led to her being sentenced so harshly.
Zhu Liji
Truong My Lan is just a microcosm of Vietnam's anti-corruption storm, as early as 2023, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who was originally regarded as the "second person" in Vietnam's top leadership, took the initiative to resign. It is widely believed that the reason for Nguyen Xuan Phuc's sudden resignation is related to a series of "kickback cases" that broke out in Vietnam during the epidemic.
In addition to Nguyen Xuan Phuc, members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Mai Tien Dung, Pham Binh Minh and others were also punished to varying degrees, which shows how firm the Vietnamese government's determination is in fighting corruption.
Back in 2017, when the current General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong presided over an anti-corruption work conference in Hanoi, he issued the famous "melting pot theory": "Once the stove is hot, fresh firewood must also be burned, and then the whole stove is hot, and all institutions must be involved." ”
Nguyen Xuan Phuc
These remarks were interpreted as Nguyen Phu Trong wanting to completely liquidate those corrupt elements, whether they were the "big tigers" in the political or business circles, and sure enough, in the next few years, there was news that heavyweights in Vietnam's political and business circles were investigated and punished one after another.
In early 2024, Nguyen Van Hou, chairman of Phu Son Group's Thang Long Commercial Real Estate, was detained for falsifying false declarations, and in 2023, a group of real estate tycoons, including Du Anh Anh Hoong, chairman of the New Huang Minh Group, were arrested on charges of embezzlement of property, bribery, misappropriation of funds, and abuse of trusts.
Since the end of 2021, the Vietnamese government has comprehensively rectified the real estate market, obviously to give the "big tigers" of this industry an ultimate liquidation.
So why did the Vietnamese government launch such a large-scale anti-corruption storm at this time? From a historical point of view, the problem of corruption in Vietnam can be said to be deep-rooted.
In 1986, Vietnam embarked on the process of "reform and opening up", and its economy has developed rapidly, the quality of life of its people has been greatly improved, and its national strength has also been significantly enhanced. At the same time, however, the overemphasis on economic growth has also led to the neglect of the rule of law and ethics at all levels of Vietnam's government, ultimately leading to widespread corruption and a serious waste of national resources.
According to statistics, in the decade from 2005 to 2015 alone, corruption and bribery caused losses of nearly 6,000 billion VND (about 190 billion yuan) and more than 400 hectares of land in Vietnam, which undoubtedly seriously weakened the people's trust in the Vietnamese party and state.
Nguyen Phu Trong
As a matter of fact, as early as the convening of the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Vietnamese government listed corruption as one of the "four major crises," and at the meeting, it was proposed that the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam should vigorously promote the building of political parties and build a clean and strong socialist country under the rule of law in an all-round way.
To this end, the Communist Party of Vietnam has adopted a series of anti-corruption measures and programs, but judging from the current situation, although it has achieved certain results, it has not yet achieved the relevant goals set by the Third Plenary Session of the 10 th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
Interestingly, according to a survey by Transparency International, Vietnam's corruption perception index has barely improved despite the government's massive anti-corruption campaign in recent years. According to the data, Vietnam's international ranking of transparency showed an upward trend from 2007 to 2011, a sudden decline in 2012, and a sharp decline in 2018.
There are two main reasons for this strange phenomenon:
One is that the Vietnamese public has a high degree of tolerance for corruption, and Vietnam is a humane society, and many things between people can be solved through favors or gifts, which is corruption according to the Western definition. In the eyes of people throughout Southeast Asia, this is a cultural habit of expressing feelings, which is why corruption in Vietnam is particularly serious.
Nguyen Phu Trong once pointed out that in the anti-corruption work, there have been no obvious changes in the anti-corruption work in some localities and industries, and some party committee leaders have not paid enough attention to the phenomenon of corruption in managing the localities, and have even taken the lead in embezzlement.
For example, Vietnam's police, customs, medical care, education and other departments have been repeatedly exposed to corruption scandals. The police force is the hardest hit area, and because their income is lower than that of ordinary workers, some police officers have to choose to act as a protective umbrella or ventilate in the process of cracking down on illegal activities.
It is precisely because of these stubborn diseases that Nguyen Phu Trong realized that in order to truly curb corruption, it is far from enough to rely on ordinary anti-corruption measures. That's why, over the past few years, Vietnam's political and business elites have been hit hard, with some of them arrested and imprisoned, while others have chosen to resign and retire in order to preserve their last dignity.
However, judging from Nguyen Phu Trong's determination, this anti-corruption storm is not over, and more "big tigers" will be brought to justice in the future.