A Politburo member who is the son of a former state president is under investigation by the Vietnam Communist Party’s Central Inspection Committee for suspected wrongdoings in his dealings with the oil and gas industry while he was minister of commerce.
As minister from 2016 to 2021, Tran Tuan Anh was responsible for “wrong advice” in the issuance of the mechanism for the development of solar energy and wind power under the country’s ambitious plan to transition away from coal usage, according to state media reports.
Additionally, officials under the ministry’s management also committed wrongdoings in the issuance of the trading mechanism for petroleum, the management of Vietnam’s oil supply and the bidding process for projects with the Advanced International Joint Stock Company, or AIC, the reports said.
AIC has been involved in the import of corporate electronics, pharmaceuticals, auto parts, machine tools and farm equipment.
The company’s former chairwoman and general director, Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan, has been accused of masterminding bid-rigging to win 16 contracts to supply medical equipment to several Vietnamese hospitals. She fled to Germany in 2022.
The Central Inspection Committee reported on the accusations against Tran Tuan Anh to the party’s Politburo and Secretariat this week, with a recommendation that he be “appropriately penalized,” state media reported.
The committee's report also named former deputy Minister of Commerce Do Thang Hai, who was arrested on Dec. 21 for allegedly taking bribes from the Xuyen Viet Oil Company.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung and Hoang Quoc Vuong, who also served as deputy minister of commerce and was the board chairman of state-owned PetroVietnam, were also named in the report, according to state media.
Anh is the latest Politburo member to face punishment for wrongdoings under the party’s “Blazing Furnace” anti-corruption campaign.
His father, Tran Duc Luong, was state president between 1997 and 2006.
In 2019, Anh wrote a public apology letter after it became known that his wife and son were picked up in a state-owned car after a Vietnam Airlines flight.
Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.