The state-controlled media reported that on October 2, at its 8th Plenum, the Party Central Committee decided to discipline and dismiss Mr. Le Duc Tho from all positions in the Party, including member of the Party Central Committee and Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee.
Tuoi Tre newspaper on the same day said, previously, “The Politburo concluded that Mr. Le Duc Tho had seriously violated Party regulations and State laws in declaring assets.” Based on the content, nature, extent, and consequences, the Politburo decided and proposed the Party Central Committee to consider and enforce disciplinary action against Mr. Le Duc Tho.
Immediately, the reaction of public opinion was that, just because of dishonest and non-transparent declaration of assets and income, Secretary Le Duc Tho was removed from all positions, which is very unjust for Mr. Tho because there are many high-ranking officials have their hidden assets are many times larger than Mr. Tho.
In June 2023, when the state-controlled media reported on Secretary Le Duc Tho’s dishonest declaration of assets, insiders from Hanoi revealed to Thoibao.de that State Bank leaders reported to General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong that Mr. Tho’s deposit at the bank was approximately VND3 trillion ($134 million). That’s not to mention the number of shares of about more than VND1 trillion.
The news also said that Le Duc Tho is a disciple of former Governor of the State Bank Nguyen Van Binh. With the support of Binh, Mr. Tho is actively campaigning to win the position of Governor of the State Bank during the 14th National Congress, so he is “punished” by competing forces within the Party to the point of termination ended his political career at the ripe old age.
In addition, before the opening day of the 8th Plenum, Tieng Dan online newspaper said “Insiders said Le Duc Tho explained that he was “beaten by the a group” and he is not as rich as Le Minh Hung, son of former Minister of Public Security Le Minh Huong (1936–2004).”
Le Minh Hung worked at General Department 5 of the Ministry of Public Security and was seconded to the Department of International Relations of the State Bank of Vietnam. Later, Hung became Governor of the State Bank before being elevated to Chief of the Party Central Office. Hung is said to become a Politburo member next term, hold the position of Permanent Secretary of the Secretariat, or Minister of Public Security. Tho also said that he is not as rich as his predecessor Nguyen Van Thang, Chairman of the Board of Directors of VietinBank (2014 – 2018), currently Minister of Transport.
Le Duc Tho was born in 1973, was removed from all positions in the Party and will then retire early for reasons of negligence. On October 2, the Voice of Vietnam reported on the results of verifying the declaration of assets and income in 2022-2023 by the Government Inspectorate, accordingly, there were more than 430,000 people declaring assets, only 2 dishonest declarers.
The recent report of the National Assembly Judiciary Committee also said that among 13,093 people whose assets and income were verified in 2023, only 54 people were found to declare dishonestly.
Asset declaration is a necessary measure in the fight against corruption in every country. But Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong once said that he did not declare personal assets, because “declaring officials’ assets is very difficult and sensitive because it involves private life and personal secrets.” This statement was made by Mr. Trong on June 17, 2018, during a meeting with voters in Cau Giay district, Hanoi.
As a reminder, right before the opening day of the 7th Plenum on May 6, 2018, Radio Free Asia reported that a collective signed letter of Communist Party members requested General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to make his assets public.
54 people signed the letter, including famous intellectuals and former officials, such as Mr. Nguyen Trong Vinh, former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam to China, writer Nguyen Ngoc, and Dr. Nguyen Quang A. Afterwards, 16 party members and citizens of Dong Tam commune, Hanoi, also signed this letter of request.
Public opinion believes that the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam’s consciousness in declaring assets, according to the Resolution of the Politburo and the Secretariat, is still the same, so how can he have the heart to discipline Le Duc Tho, member of the Party Central Committee and Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee?
Thoibao.de (Translated)
