The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has stripped two former ministers of Information and Communications (MIC) Nguyen Bac Son and Truong Minh Tuan off their membership for their violations violations of the Party’s regulations and involvement in an infamous TV firm acquisition case.
Former ministers of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son and Truong Minh Tuan. Photo: Thanh Nien
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Son and Tuan were punished for allegedly taking bribes in the illegal acquisition of private pay TV firm Audio Visual Global JSC (AVG) by state-owned telecom giant MobiFone in 2016.
In March, the trio was arrested and placed under criminal investigations for infringing regulations on management and use of public capital.
Last year, the two former information ministers had been dismissed from all Party and administrative positions.
The two former ministers are believed to violate public investment laws and cause an estimated loss of more than VND6.5 trillion (US$282 million) to the state in the case which MobiFone, under the management of MIC, bought a 95% stake of AVG as the officials authorized the acquisition decision without investment plans and study on AVG’s situation, according to the Government Inspectorate.
The deal left serious impacts on MobiFone’s operations and hurt its privatization process. The corporation suffered an accumulative loss worth VND1.9 trillion (US$82 million), the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.
When the purchase was completed, Son received US$3 million from Chairman of AVG Pham Nhat Vu.
Tuan, who served as information minister from April 2016 to July 2018 and as Son’s deputy in the previous tenure, signed a decision to approve the acquisition even though in MIC, he was not. delegated the responsibilities of supervising telecom businesses.
Tuan received US$200,000 from Vu for signing the decision taken by the information ministry to approve of the acquisition.
Investigations showed that 11 other people violated regulations on management and use of public funds in the case, including MobiFone’s former CEO Cao Duy Hai and former board chairman Le Nam Tra, who had taken bribes of US$500,000 and US$2.5 million, respectively.
The CPV has four levels of punishment for misconduct committed by its members: reprimand, warning, demotion and expulsion.
The case is among major cases in the corruption crackdown spearheaded by the Party’s General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong.
