Health minister, Hanoi chairman expelled from Party

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long and Hanoi Chairman Chu Ngoc Anh were ousted from Vietnam’s Communist Party under a Party Central Committee decision issued on Monday.

The decision followed a proposal last Saturday from the Politburo, the Party’s decision-making body, asking the committee to take disciplinary action against the two senior officials.

Nguyen Thanh Long, a Party Central Committee member and Minister of Health; and Chu Ngoc Anh, a Party Central Committee member, Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee and former Minister of Science and Technology, “have displayed deterioration in their political ideology, ethics and lifestyles, violating the Party’s regulations and State laws,” according to the proposal.

They were found to have violated regulations on Party member conduct, “causing very serious consequences, damage to the state budget; affecting the country’s anti-pandemic efforts; causing anger in society; and affecting the reputation of Party organizations of the ministries to the point of having to face disciplinary action.”

Last month, the Central Inspection Committee proposed the Politburo take disciplinary action against the duo. The inspection committee concluded that the health ministry leaders in the 2016-2021 term lacked responsibility, showed loose leadership, and lacked direction, management and inspection, giving rise to some ministerial officials violating the Party’s regulations and State laws in appraising, inspecting, supervising, licensing, negotiating prices and procurement of Covid-19 test kits for Viet A Company.

The technology ministry leaders in the 2016-2021 term were found to have lacked responsibility, showed loose leadership, and lacked direction, management, and inspection, giving rise to some ministerial officials violating the Party’s regulations and State laws in approving and signing contracts, managing, inspecting, supervising and funding a project that studies and manufactures Covid-19 test kits for Military Medical Academy.

Phan Quoc Viet, CEO of Viet A Company, was arrested in December 2021. He then admitted he had inflated the price of a Covid-19 test kit by 45% and given huge bribes to corporate partners and leaders of provincial and city centers for disease control across the country, asking them to distribute and use Covid-19 test kits provided by his company.

Lieutenant General To An Xo, chief of staff and spokesman of the Ministry of Public Security, told a government meeting on Saturday that Viet A earned up to VND4,000 billion ($172.47 million) illicitly, of which VND800 billion was spent on bribes.