Trial of Mr. Dinh La Thang: Strict punishment by law will make corruption shrink

According to press reports, at the end of November 16, defendant Dinh La Thang confided that since the trial took place, he has been very worried. Every time the Procuracy indicts him, he adds a new crime and adds new, more serious circumstances.

Public opinion is closely following the trial of the case of "Intentionally violating state regulations on economic management causing serious consequences" and "embezzlement of property" occurring at the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Construction Joint Stock Corporation (PVC).

This is the first time in the history of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam that a very high-ranking official, who once held the position of Politburo member, has been prosecuted in court. This proves the spirit of "impartiality of law", no matter who they are, no matter how high their position, if they violate the law, they will be stripped of their immunity and punished according to the law. "Impartiality of law" has always been considered a vital principle of law and of the rule of law state since ancient times.

Following the trials, it is clear that in the debate between the lawyers and the prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuracy, and in the self-defense, the defendant Dinh La Thang, the mastermind, has not been truly sincere (although he, as the former head of the oil and gas industry, has apologized to the people, the Party, and the industry's staff). His lack of sincerity is shown in the fact that he tried to prove that his wrongdoings were "carried out with the consent of the Politburo". However, in reality, there is no document showing the consent of the Politburo to the wrong decisions of Mr. Thang and his accomplices.

The Procuracy cited evidence pointing out Mr. Thang's evasiveness and denial of guilt through Conclusion No. 41 of the Politburo on PVN's development strategy, as well as the Prime Minister's document at that time. Thereby, the Procuracy concluded: "The Conclusion of the Politburo did not provide any specific regulations requiring PVN to select the general contractor PVC and appoint PVC to invest in Thai Binh 2 Thermal Power Plant. Thus, the testimony of defendant Dinh La Thang is completely incorrect."

There is a fact that has been clearly proven by the representative of the People's Procuracy that the Politburo only issued a general policy on the development of PVN until 2015, with a vision to 2025, aiming to build PVN into a strong, multi-industry economic group, including promoting and increasing the group's revenue.

Regarding the crime of intentional wrongdoing by the defendant Dinh La Thang, the prosecution agency also proved that in 2010, PVC was facing financial difficulties, the Chairman of the Board of Members of PVN knew very well about PVC's situation, but in the reports sent by PVN to the Government, this issue was not mentioned at all. Along with that, PVC's experience as a general contractor was only demonstrated through participating in the construction of the Vung Ang and Nhon Trach 2 Thermal Power Plant projects, completely lacking the capacity to undertake the general contractor role for a key project such as the Thai Binh 2 Thermal Power Plant with a capital of more than 34,000 billion VND.

In court, defendant Dinh La Thang and defendant Trinh Xuan Thanh also admitted that at that time PVC did not have enough capacity to do it.

Thus, it is clear that PVN is a state-owned enterprise, the business goal must be to make a profit, preserve and develop capital sources at PVN and capital PVN invested in other projects. The State assigned the position of Chairman of the Board of Members of PVN to promote values ​​and benefits, and at the same time required compliance with the law. However, defendant Dinh La Thang favored a group of friends and factions to appoint incompetent contractors, then directed subordinates at PVN and related people at the Oil and Gas Power Corporation (PVPower) to sign EPC contract No. 33 to advance money to PVC in violation of regulations so that Trinh Xuan Thanh and his accomplices could misuse it, causing damage to the State.

As soon as the case of Mr. Dinh La Thang and his accomplices was tried, there was a lot of retrospective information in public opinion that he had made some contributions in his position as Minister of Transport. But each story has its own story, before the law everything must be clear and distinct.

Many people also recalled the impressive images of Mr. Thang after he was nominated to the Politburo, but they seemed to "ignore" the violations of the oil and gas industry under the "reign" of industry commander Dinh La Thang. For example, in the investment case of exploiting heavy oil in Venezuela, PVN "evaded the law", ignoring sober consultation with expertise to help the Party and Government make wise decisions. And, there may be many other violations in PVN in the period 2006-2011 that even Mr. Thang is worried about because they have not stopped.

No matter how it is justified, the evidence presented in court is enough to show that Mr. Thang and his accomplices contributed to melting a "steel fist" of the state, the consequences of which are difficult to measure.

When the fight against corruption is strengthened by the determination of the General Secretary, and supported by the strictness of the law, we see more and more the serious economic consequences that happened at the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) and Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines), which, although nearly ten years have passed, have not yet recovered, and even the "iron fist" has melted and cannot be restored.

Such evidence shows that, no matter how it is justified, it is impossible to erase Mr. Dinh La Thang's responsibility in contributing to nurturing interest groups to monopolize and manipulate national policies, and embezzling public funds of the state and people at the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group.

Through following the trial of the case of "intentionally violating state regulations on economic management" in recent days, I believe that, with the spirit of "the law is impartial", the case related to Ocean Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Oceanbank) and the case of causing a total loss of 800 billion VND will soon be brought to a strict, humane, and accurate trial.

Because, only when "the law is impartial" can corrupt worms, worms of interest groups, cliques, and cronies shrink their necks and tentacles.