General Cuong: The MobiFone AVG purchase case left many painful lessons

PV:Dear Major General, recently, the Investigation Police Agency (Ministry of Public Security) announced violations in public investment in the MobiFone project to buy 95% of AVG shares. Accordingly, former Ministers of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son admitted to receiving a bribe of 3 million USD, Truong Minh Tuan received a bribe of 200,000 USD... This is a case with two former ministers as defendants and both were prosecuted for receiving bribes with a huge amount of money, which was publicly announced in the media. What is the Major General's comment on this case?

Mr. Nguyen Bac Son (left photo) and Mr. Truong Minh Tuan.

Major General Le Van Cuong:As we know, the case that occurred at the Ministry of Information and Communications was brought to light at the end of 2017, and officially in 2018, Mr. Nguyen Bac Son - former Minister of Information and Communications and Mr. Truong Minh Tuan - former Deputy Minister of Information and Communications (at the time of the violation) were prosecuted.

While public opinion believed that this case was still under investigation, there was recently an initial official announcement of the charges against Mr. Nguyen Bac Son and Mr. Truong Minh Tuan, who were involved in this major case. This is a major case, involving a member of the 11th Party Central Committee who was a Minister during the 2011-2016 period and a Deputy Minister during this period, along with nearly 10 officials at the department and bureau levels or higher. The case was made public, and the press reported quite fully on this major case; including the crime of accepting bribes by Mr. Nguyen Bac Son, Mr. Truong Minh Tuan and the person who gave the bribe.

The information of the case raised this time has stirred up public opinion. Why is that? I see several issues here, which reflect the very high political determination of our Party, of the Party Central Committee, of the Politburo. And it must be said objectively that this is the political determination of the leader, Comrade General Secretary, President Nguyen Phu Trong. A month ago, Comrade General Secretary, President publicly declared to the public that: The fight against corruption and degeneration continues to be pushed forward, to eliminate the degenerate cadres in Party and State agencies, to make the Party and State stronger.

The statement of the General Secretary and President has cheered the people and strengthened their trust in the Party. And now the case has made public all the charges against the former Minister - Member of the Party Central Committee and senior officials of the Ministry of Information and Communications, which once again reflects the political determination as mentioned above. Thus, there is absolutely no doubt about the possibility of slowing down the fight against corruption, but this fight continues to be intensified.

This case was brought up during the preparation for the 13th Party Congress, which means that the General Secretary and the Politburo are determined to push to the end the fight against corruption and degeneration in the apparatus, to clean up the apparatus before the Party Congress. With this determination, we believe and hope that after the 13th Party Congress, we will have an apparatus from the Central to the local level, including key cadres with both heart and vision, taking on the leadership role in building and protecting the Fatherland in the new period.

PV:What lessons do we learn from this case, General?

Major General Le Van Cuong:In this case, a current Minister dared to sign a document that caused the State to lose about 7,000 billion VND. Of course, Mr. Nguyen Bac Son as well as Mr. Truong Minh Tuan did not do this impartially at all. In order to cause the State to lose several thousand billion VND, they were also bribed with tens of billions of VND. This is a particularly serious crime.

All previous serious crimes, including the case of Mr. Dinh La Thang, committed the crime while he was the Chairman of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group; and the crimes mainly occurred at the department, bureau and some local levels. Even Mr. Minh, Mr. Chien in Da Nang, Mr. Tat Thanh Cang in Ho Chi Minh City... when committing the crime were also at a lower position than Mr. Bac Son. Mr. Bac Son committed the crime while he was the head of a Ministry. It can be said that this is the first time we have brought to light a head of a Ministry who committed the crime of accepting bribes.

Defendants in the MobiFone buying AVG case. Photo: VNA

From this serious case, it cannot be avoided that our state economic management before the 12th Congress was still loose... From this case, my point of view is that the State needs to review the legal system, must clearly define personal responsibility, and the responsibility of the head of the organization must be clearly defined.

Another problem is the supervision of power. The system of supervision of power is still loose, which is why such loopholes occur. The authorities (National Assembly, Central Inspection Committee, Government Inspectorate...) must exercise the right to supervise, take responsibility for supervision, and not let such incidents happen. From this case, we also see that there are still loopholes in the work of cadres. It is necessary to review the work of inspection, promotion, and arrangement of cadres; and to recognize the responsibility of the head in the work of organization, inspection, and in the monitoring and supervision of cadres.

Another issue is democracy within the Party. In my opinion, at that time, there were people in the Party Committee of the Ministry of Information and Communications who knew about this mistake, but did not dare to speak up, so the so-called struggle of “criticism and criticism” and “democracy” here was just a formality. Therefore, from this case, it is necessary to closely monitor the Party organizations under the Central Committee. Those are the lessons we have learned from this painful serious case.

This case also shows that the Central Executive Committee and the Politburo must continue to implement the Party's Resolutions, resolutely fight against corruption; direct the City Party Committees, Provincial Party Committees, and Party Committees directly under the Central Committee to continue to implement the Central Resolution 4, Central Resolution 6, and Decision 08 of the Central Executive Committee on the exemplary responsibility of cadres and party members, first of all, Politburo members, Secretariat members, and Central Executive Committee members.

The second thing, which the General Secretary also mentioned, is to absolutely not allow officials who seek power and positions, opportunistic officials to enter the Central Committee, provincial and municipal Party Committees. The third thing is, towards the 13th Congress, we must implement the Central Resolution on foreign investment; resolutely prevent the flow of foreign investment with outdated technology and environmental pollution. A typical example is spending more than 8,000 billion VND to buy outdated production lines at Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel. In my opinion, this is due to the degeneration of our officials. In the current conditions, Vietnam has many advantages to receive foreign investment, but we must tighten the reception of foreign investment.

Abandoned steel factory worth more than 8,000 billion at Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Company.

Finally, I hope that, more than ever, the General Secretary and President must implement the Decision to set an example. If the Party Central Committee members, ministers and heads of government agencies, and chairmen of provinces and cities set a good example... then this will be the most complete demonstration of studying and following the moral thought of President Ho Chi Minh.

In the current context, our Party, directly led by the General Secretary and President, is directing the implementation of the fight against corruption, waste, bureaucracy, and negativity. Serious and complicated corruption and economic cases have been handled resolutely and strictly, in accordance with Party regulations and State laws, making the Party increasingly clean and strong, creating a team of virtuous and talented cadres, ensuring that the Party has the capacity to lead the country's cause to continuously develop.

PV:Thank you very much, Major General!