A former deputy secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City's Party Committee has been arrested for his serious violations in a number of property projects and planning in the country’s biggest economic center.
| A policeman works with Tat Thanh Cang on December 16. Photo: A.X |
Tat Thanh Cang, 49, was arrested on December 16 for “infringing regulations on the management and use of state assets, causing waste and losses” under the Penal Code.
On the same day, Mr. Cang was dismissed from the city People’s Council for the 2016-2021 term. He was a former deputy chief of the city’s Party Committee in 2015-2020, former member of the Party’s Central Committee, former deputy chairman of the city People’s Committee, and former director of Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Transport.
Local media reported that Mr. Cang was accused of involving in the share sale without putting out to tender in South Saigon Development Company (SADECO) that caused a loss worth VND153 billion (US$6.65 million) to the state.
In a meeting by the Party’s Central Inspection Commission in November 2018, Mr. Cang was blamed for infringing regulations on public land sales and mismanagement.
He signed different decisions, including those to build four arteries in Thu Thiem peninsula. The roads with total length of 12 kilometers and an investment of VND12 trillion (US$521 million) are left unfinished after five years of construction, causing losses to the state budget.
Thu Thiem peninsula has been planned to become a dynamic zone of Ho Chi Minh City but wrongdoings in planning and construction have led to chaos in the region’s construction, leaving thousands of residents destitute due to long-stalled construction.
Over the past years, several senior officials have been punished for their wrongdoings, showing the Party’s determination to accelerate the fight against corruption and backward sliding. It was recently affirmed by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and State President Nguyen Phu Trong at a meeting, in which he insisted that the combat against corruption has no exceptions.
The punishment to Mr. Cang is just days ahead the 13th National Party Congress which is slated for the first quarter 2021.
