Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh has made a public apology for the inappropriate use of a state car for private purpose, a move that is rarely seen in Vietnam’s politics.
Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh. Photo: National Assembly's Office
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According to media reports, other passengers on the plane had to make way for Anh’s wife to get off the plane first. A car under the management of the ministry was already waiting for her at the staircase. Several National Assembly deputies were also on board.
According to Vietnamese legislation, a minister does not have the privilege to be picked up right at the plane’s door, not to mention his/her relatives.
“As the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and a family member involved in the incident, I am apologizing to the public for the mishappening,” the minister said in a letter posted on the ministry’s website on January 8.
He attributed the delay of the apology to being hospitalized in a centrally-un hospital in Hanoi.
“I consider this a painful lesson for myself, my family and the Ministry,” he noted.
The Ministry’s Office on January 3 had sent a dispatch to the aviation authority to get the permission to pick up Minister Anh at the VIP lounge of the airport. Anh was said to be landing in Hanoi after a flight from Ho Chi Minh City on January 4, but it turned out that he had several activities at the ministry’s headquarters in Hanoi that afternoon.
It is rare that a Vietnamese politician makes a public apology. In Anh’s case, it may have been due to local media reports and harsh comments on social media.
