Viet Nam News HÀ NÔI – Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng has ordered the continuation of investigations into the case of a dismissed National Assembly (NA) delegate after receiving a report indicating violations were suspected.
Trịnh Xuân Thanh, the former deputy chairman of the Hậu Giang Province People’s Committee, last week, was dismissed from the NA after being found accountable for massive losses at a major State-owned oil company, PetroVietnam, and was censured for illegally using a Government license plate on his private car.
The Party Chief on Monday asked the Central Personnel Committee and leaders of PetroVietnam, as well as the authorities of the Hậu Giang Province and the Ministry of Home Affairs, to review and clarify the responsibility of individuals or groups of people who were involved, related to or supported Thanh’s violations and to determine the relevant penalties.
He also ordered an investigation into whether any suspected individuals or groups were involved in the process of awarding the Labour Order for 2009 and 2010 and the Labour Hero 2011 title to the Việt Nam Oil and Gas Construction Joint Stock Corporation. Penalties will also be issued, where guilt is established.
Police at all levels should intensify their investigations to determine how the corporation had allowed a loss of VNĐ3 trillion (US$135 million) to occur in the 2011-2013 period, according to the Party General Secretary.
The Party Chief also demanded police to find the violators involved in the illegal granting of a Government license plate for Thanh’s private car.
On June 1, media reported public outrage in Hậu Giang Province when a Lexus car worth some VNĐ5 billion ($224,000), registered with a Government plate, was found to belong to the vice chairman of the People’s Committee of Hậu Giang, a poor southern province.
Prior to being assigned to his position in Hậu Giang, Thanh was the chairman of PetroVietnam Corporation from 2007 to 2013.
Thanh later denied that he owned the car but had borrowed it from a friend in Hà Nội when he was transferred to Hậu Giang. – VNS