Politburo member sacked for corruption, extraordinary meeting of the National Assembly

At the end of December, Vice Minister Pham Binh Minh (former Foreign Minister) was expelled from the highest body of the Communist Party of Vietnam for being -believed- linked to a series of corruption scandals linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. Over the past year, 900 government officials have been investigated. At the moment it is difficult to distinguish scandals from political fixes.

Hanoi () – The Vietnamese National Assembly is holding an extraordinary four-day meeting today to discuss “urgent issues”, including the removal of senior government officials from their posts due to a corruption scandal during the harshest phase of the pandemic from Covid-19.

On December 30, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) removed from its Politburo the current deputy minister Pham Binh Minh, former foreign minister between 2011 and 2021. The Central Committee of the PCV – the only party in the country – also voted in favor of the dismissal of another deputy minister, Vu Duc Dam, from their assembly, but the press release issued at the end of the meeting does not mention the reason for the dismissal of the two, except for “wrong actions”, which gives rise to speculation about internal struggles.

In reality, although both were allowed to keep their posts as deputy ministers, the story linked to the corruption scandals seems to be growing, to the point of involving the highest echelons of power.

Several government officials have charged Vietnamese nationals stranded abroad during the pandemic with surcharges on 400 repatriation flights, collecting more than $200 million in bribes, investigations revealed. In addition, Viet A Technology Corporation, one of the largest biotech companies in the country, sold rapid swabs imported from abroad, but falsely labeled as produced in the country, at a 45% increase in price, thanks to an illicit agreement with the ministries of health and science and technology. The case, also known as Viet A, has implicated more and more officials in the past year: at least 102 people have been arrested, including former health minister Nguyen Thanh Long and other local figures, who were later expelled from the Party.

These are not new facts: until a decade ago Vietnam was considered one of the most corrupt countries in the world and since 2016 the Communist Party has launched a series of anti-corruption campaigns: the country’s leader, Nguyen Phu Trong, likened the most recent with a “fiery furnace.” According to the Ministry of Public Security, at least 900 state officials and employees were investigated for corruption and abuse of power in 2022 alone.

However, the removal of Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam from two major centers of power now leaves two vacancies, raising the question of who could replace them. According to some, the withdrawal of Minh and Dam had been decided a long time ago since the extraordinary meeting that opens today had already been scheduled for the second half of December. However, it is unclear whether there will be a new appointment among Vietnam’s currently four deputy prime ministers, though his position is likely to remain uncertain well into the new year.

Meanwhile, other analysts say Vietnam has a lot to gain by strengthening its image as a country where it is safe to do business, especially after several producers have left China due to the “zero Covid” policy. At the same time, it is extremely difficult to understand whether the recent purges are politically motivated, because the press and dissent are under the strict control of the central government. The Freedom House association classifies Vietnam as a “not free” country, assigning it only 19 points out of 100.