Two deputy prime ministers to leave their positions

The Party Central Committee has decided to let Standing Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh and Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam resign from their positions.

On Friday, the committee voted and agreed to let Minh resign from the positions of Politburo member and Party Central Committee member. It also voted and agreed for Dam to resign from the position of Party Central Committee member.

The committee also gave opinions for the Politburo, the Party's premier decision-making body, to make personnel recommendations to the National Assembly for the 2021-2026 term.

The government has four deputy prime ministers for the 2021-2026 term, including Pham Binh Minh, Le Minh Khai, Vu Duc Dam, and Le Van Thanh. Given the Party Central Committee's decision, the government will have only two deputy prime ministers who are also Party Central Committee members.

As planned, on January 5, the 15th National Assembly's second extraordinary session will open to consider a number of urgent issues including personnel affairs.

An announcement from the Party Central Committee did not mention the reasons behind its decisions.

Previously, on September 27, Nguyen Quang Linh, assistant to Standing Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, was arrested for allegedly accepting bribes related to repatriation of Vietnamese citizens during the pandemic crisis. Linh, 48, was prosecuted and detained by the Ministry of Public Security's investigative agency per the Penal Code.

On December 16, Nguyen Van Trinh, assistant to Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam, was expelled from the Communist Party due to "ideological and political deterioration, and accepting bribes" in the Viet A Covid test kit scam.

Trinh was arrested on November 30 for allegedly influencing the Ministry of Health's decision to grant a circulation permit for Viet A Company's Covid-19 test kits.

On Friday, the Party Central Committee also decided to expell Tran Dinh Thanh, a former Party Central Committee member, former Secretary of Dong Nai's Party Committee, and former chairman of the southern province's People's Council, from the Communist Party.