Expelled from the Party Mr. To Anh Dung and Mr. Nguyen Quang Linh

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs To Anh Dung (left) and Assistant to Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Quang Linh. Photo: The World & Vietnam

On September 27, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong chaired a meeting of the Secretariat to consider and discipline Mr. To Anh Dung, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Nguyen Quang Linh, assistant to Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh.

The Secretariat determined that Mr. To Anh Dung was irresponsible and violated Party regulations and State laws in leading, directing, advising, and proposing the organization of flights to bring Vietnamese citizens home during the Covid-19 pandemic. Mr. Dung also accepted bribes and was prosecuted and temporarily detained by the investigation agency.

Regarding Mr. Nguyen Quang Linh, the Secretariat determined that he had taken advantage of his position, violated working principles and regulations; violated Party regulations and State laws in advising and submitting for approval to grant licenses to businesses to organize flights to bring Vietnamese citizens home during the Covid-19 pandemic; and violated the Regulations on what Party members are not allowed to do.

According to the Secretariat, Mr. To Anh Dung and Mr. Nguyen Quang Linh lacked self-cultivation and training, and had degraded political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle; violated Party regulations and State laws on preventing and combating corruption and negativity.

These two men also violated the Regulations on what party members are not allowed to do and the responsibility to set an example, causing very serious consequences. These violations also caused bad public opinion and anger in society; negatively affecting the reputation of the party organization.

Therefore, the Secretariat decided to expel Mr. To Anh Dung and Nguyen Quang Linh from the Party; at the same time, it requested the competent authorities to take administrative discipline against the above individuals in a timely and synchronous manner with Party discipline.

At the 20th session recently held, the Central Inspection Committee concluded that Mr. To Anh Dung (Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs) and Mr. Nguyen Quang Linh (Assistant to the Permanent Deputy Prime Minister) had distorted the policy in organizing flights to bring Vietnamese citizens home when the Covid-19 epidemic broke out.

In mid-April, Mr. To Anh Dung was prosecuted and detained for accepting bribes in a move to expand the investigation into a bribery case that occurred at the Consular Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Most recently, on September 20, the Ministry of Public Security's Security Investigation Agency prosecuted and issued an order to temporarily detain Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hai, Director of the Department of International Relations, Government Office, for the same crime.

According to the authorities, in 2021, the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated with relevant ministries and branches to organize nearly 600 rescue flights and bring about 120,000 people back to the country in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Through investigation, the Ministry of Public Security proved that the defendants involved received tens of billions of VND and hundreds of thousands of USD in rescue flights.

Up to now, many officials from relevant agencies have been prosecuted and arrested in this case, including Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong Lan (Director of the Consular Department), Mr. Do Hoang Tung (Deputy Director), Mr. Tran Van Du (former Deputy Director of the Immigration Department, Ministry of Public Security), two experts from the International Relations Department of the Government Office, Nguyen Mai Anh and Nguyen Tien Than, Mr. Ngo Quang Tuan (expert from the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Transport)...