Updates story at 2:40 pm on May 10, 2024.
Vietnam's Communist Party recommended disciplining Le Thanh Hai, the former secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee and a former Politburo member, state media reported.
Its Central Inspection Committee announced the proposal on Wednesday in relation to the Van Thinh Phat corruption scandal, but did not say which level of discipline it would impose.
The Vietnamese Communist Party has four levels of discipline: reprimand, warning, dismissal, and expulsion.
In April, Truong My Lan, the chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat, was sentenced to death for masterminding a massive fraud that led to US$27 billion in losses at Saigon Commercial Bank.
The case showed that the city’s Party Committee had “violated the principle of democratic centralism and working regulations,” and lacked responsibility, leadership and direction.
As a result, it said, the committee and other organizations violated party regulations and state laws relating to land use, finance, investment, planning and construction of Van Thinh Phat’s projects and bidding packages implemented by the Progressive International Joint Stock Company.
The Central Inspection Committee also said it would discipline Le Hoang Quan and Nguyen Thanh Phong, two former chairmen of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee in connection with the scandal.
Hai and Quan were also disciplined back in 2020 for “violations and shortcomings” in connection with the Thu Thiem urban development project in Ho Chi Minh City. Phong was disciplined in 2022.
The Politburo ordered the dismissal of Hai as secretary of the city’s Party Committee for the 2010-2015 term, while Quan and Phong received warnings.
The long-running “blazing furnace” campaign continues to net regional and national officials as Vietnam’s communist party tries to stamp out corruption in its ranks.
Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.
Corrects story to say that the three officials will be disciplined, not that they have been arrested.