Vinachem Chairman: From the scandal of 'husband appointing wife' to disciplinary dismissal

Not only was he involved in violations and shortcomings related to four loss-making trillion-dollar projects of the Chemical Group, Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung was also accused of making unusual decisions to appoint relatives.

Great power but lack of responsibility

On September 20, the Secretariat decided to remove Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung from all of his Party positions, including the position of member of the Central Enterprises Party Committee, member of the Vietnam Chemical Group Party Committee (Vinachem), and Secretary of the Vietnam Chemical Group Party Committee.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung is a member of the Central Business Bloc Party Committee for the 2015-2020 term, Deputy Secretary of the Chemical Group Party Committee since August 2012; Party Committee Secretary since October 2013; Chairman of the Group's Board of Directors since April 2012 to present.

The Secretariat's decision clearly stated the violations and shortcomings of Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung.

Accordingly, Mr. Dung must bear primary responsibility for the violations and shortcomings of the Party Committee Standing Committee of the Group for the 2010-2015 term.

The Secretariat believes that as a leader, Mr. Dung was irresponsible, lax in management, and lacked inspection and supervision, allowing "violations and shortcomings in personnel work" to occur.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung must take primary responsibility for violations in implementing the Ha Bac fertilizer project.

In addition, Mr. Dung is also responsible for managing the capital, assets, land and investments of the Group, causing very serious consequences; the Group and a number of companies were unable to preserve the State-assigned capital.

At the same time, there was a lack of inspection and supervision, leading to serious violations in the implementation of four key projects: Ninh Binh Fertilizer Factory Project; Ha Bac Fertilizer Factory Renovation and Expansion Project; DAP Fertilizer Production Project No. 2 in Lao Cai; and Hai Phong DAP Fertilizer Production Project.

The Secretariat requested the Party Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to urgently direct the consideration of administrative disciplinary action against Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung in accordance with current regulations.

Previously, the Central Inspection Committee also stated: Personally, Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung, Party Secretary, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Group, with the responsibility of the head, Mr. Dung was irresponsible, lax in management, lacked inspection and supervision, leading to violations and shortcomings in personnel work; in capital, asset, land and investment management of the Group, causing very serious consequences; causing the Group and a number of companies to not preserve the State-assigned capital.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung was also concluded to have “lack of inspection and supervision leading to serious violations during the implementation of the Lao Cai DAP No. 2 Project. He is primarily responsible for the violations in the implementation of the Ha Bac fertilizer project”.

The scandal of "the whole family being the boss"

Just a short time after being appointed by the Prime Minister to the position of Chairman of the Board of Members of the Vietnam Chemical Group (in 2012), many relatives of Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung were also appointed to hold important positions in member units of Vinachem.

Specifically, the wife, younger brother, and younger brother-in-law of the leader of the Vietnam Chemical Group hold important positions in the group.

One of the appointments mentioned in the complaint is that of Mr. Nguyen Van Minh (younger brother of Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung). In 2013, he was appointed Deputy Director of the Planning and Business Department as Deputy General Director of Ninh Binh Nitrogen One Member Co., Ltd.

This appointment was considered by many Vinachem officials to be a serious violation of the Enterprise Law. Accordingly, Ninh Binh Fertilizer Company is 100% owned by Vinachem. As the younger brother of the Group's Chairman, Mr. Minh was not appointed to be a leader at Ninh Binh Fertilizer due to his relationship with the manager at the parent company and the representative of the state capital at that company.

Two other cases also raised questions about violations of the Enterprise Law in appointing officials at the Vietnam Chemical Group are the cases of Ms. Le Thi Thai Huong (Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung's wife) and Ms. Le Thi Tan Hoa (Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung's sister-in-law).

Mr. Dung's wife was appointed as Head of Finance and Accounting Department of Vinachem and his brother-in-law held the position of Head of Financial Accounting and Statistics Department of Ha Bac Fertilizer and Chemical Joint Stock Company.

The appointment of relatives and related persons to the Chairman of Vinachem is considered problematic because it is not part of the previous planning of the member units.

After receiving this complaint, the Government Office sent a document to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to direct the inspection and review of the appointment of officials with signs of bribery at the Vietnam Chemical Group and requested to notify the Government Office of the results of the settlement.

Then, in October 2016, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh signed a decision to accept and resolve the complaint and set up a team to verify the complaint related to the appointment of officials that did not comply with legal regulations at the Vietnam Chemical Group.

Nearly a year has passed, but the verification results of the Ministry of Industry and Trade have not yet been publicly announced.

Up to now, Nguyen Van Minh (brother of Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung) - an unusual appointment - is no longer on the list of deputy general directors of Ninh Binh Fertilizer.

According to VNN