The case of Phan Van Anh Vu, also known as Vu "nhom", was a big lesson for the ministry in terms of personnel management and making use of professional operations to commit crimes, said Lam.
To Lam, minister of Public Security. Source: Cong An Newspaper.
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Lam referred to Phan Van Anh Vu, 43, a property magnate in Da Nang, who on July 30 was sentenced to nine years in prison after being accused of deliberately revealing state secrets. In the same trial, a former senior official of the intelligence force of the Ministry of Public Security was sentenced to seven years in jail.
That was the first trial Vu had to stand and he will face other four, Lam tipped.
Phan Van Anh Vu, or Vu "nhom", (checked shirt) listens to the verdict on July 30. Photo: Vietnam News Agency
Vu used to be a contractor for projects related to aluminium products before starting his real estate business. He was reportedly a police official and used a shell company for illegal deals.Vu fled to Singapore shortly before the Ministry of Public Security issued an arrest warrant for him last December. He was arrested in January after being deported from Singapore for using a false identity.
In a separate case, the police are also investigating nearly three dozen properties in Da Nang and some other provinces related to Vu. The properties had previously belonged to the state and were reportedly sold to Vu at below market prices.
As a number of former and current officials of the ministry were involved in the case, the ministry is determined to deal with all cases of violation, leaving no stone unturned in the fight against corruption, regardless of violators being sitting or former high-profile officials, said Lam.
Following a directive adopted by the Politburo - the highest decision-making body of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Ministry of Public Security will remove six general departments and merge 60 divisions with similar functions into just over 50, while nearly 300 sub-divisions have been reduced, informed Major General Luong Tam Quang, chief of the ministry's Office at a press conference on August 7.
At the provincial level, a total of 20 firefighting departments have been merged into their respective provincial or municipal police departments, Quang added.
In total, the restructuring removes more than 1,500 sub-divisions of the provincial police departments.
Leaders of the general departments, which are subject to removal, will be moved to new positions that suit their expertise or become directors of intermediate level departments.
The move is aimed for the ministry to become an efficient and lean agency, stated the ministry on its website.
