Former chairman of Vietnam’s cement giant Vicem arrested

Former chairman of the state-owned Vietnam National Cement Corporation (Vicem) Le Van Chung has been detained for violating regulations on management and use of state assets, leading to significant losses and waste.

The Ministry of Public Security on Wednesday announced that its investigative agency (C03) had launched legal proceedings against Chung, along with his three subordinates.

The trio are former CEO of Vicem Nguyen Ngoc Anh; Du Ngoc Long, former director of the company’s project management unit; and Hoang Ngoc Hieu, former head of Vicem's appraisal department.

Chung, Long and Hieu have been arrested, while Anh has been released on bail.

The four were accused of committing violations while implementating the Vicem Tower project at Lot 10E6 in the Cau Giay Urban Area on Pham Hung street, Hanoi.

The project was first invested by the corporation in 2010 on a 8,500-square meter area. It consists of 31 floors above ground and four underground ones. The initial investment was VND1,951 billion, which was later adjusted to VND2,743 billion ($107.55 million) in 2011.

It aimed to build a headquarters for Vicem, its subsidiaries, a conference hall, and a commercial services area.

Construction of the tower started in 2011. However, after completing the underground structure, the project was halted in August 2015 and has been frozen since then.

Subsequently, Vicem repeatedly requested the Ministry of Construction to approve a plan to find partners to transfer the tower to recover costs. The ministry reported the situation and received approval from the Prime Minister in March 2017 to transfer the property.

However, the transfer could not be completed due to legal issues related to investment, land, and the handling of state-owned assets in public enterprises.

Vicem, a state-owned enterprise under the Ministry of Construction, has been in operation for 45 years. It manages 10 factories nationwide housing 16 production lines with an annual capacity of 20 million tons of clinker and 27 million tons of cement.

The corporation is known for its popular cement brands, including Ha Tien, Hai Phong, Bim Son, Hoang Thach, But Son, and Hoang Mai.

It is the only among six firms under the ministry to report losses in 2024, with consolidated loss of VND1.4 trillion ($55.15 million) partly due to unfavorable market conditions. Its parent company’s loss reached VND236.8 billion ($9.33 million).

However, these figures were still lower than Vicem's targets by VND177.5 billion ($6.99 million) and VND59.6 billion, respectively.