Before the Communist Party of Vietnam gained power, Ho Chi Minh once wrote “Revolutionary life is truly luxurious.” This is a way to show positive thinking, when Ho Chi Minh still had lived in difficult conditions.
After about 80 years, Ho Chi Minh’s followers in the era when the Communists took over power, became inexplicably rich.
Tuoi Tre newspaper on March 22 reported “Chairwoman of Nhon Trach district was defrauded of VND100 billion ($4 million), Dong Nai Police urgently investigated.” The news said that Dong Nai provincial Police are coordinating to investigate the fact that the Chairwoman of the People’s Committee of Nhon Trach District – Nguyen Thi Giang Huong, was defrauded of more than VND100 billion.
Also related to this incident, according to Thanh Nien newspaper on the same day, it was revealed that the amount of money that Giang Huong was defrauded was up to VND170 billion, equal to nearly $7 million.
Accordingly, this group of scammers asked Giang Huong to open an account and deposit money into it. After that, in many different ways, the group of online scammers took money from this account, each time tens of billions of dong. According to Tuoi Tre Online, Giang Huong explained: “This is a hacker attack on my account. The money is in my account, but I don’t transfer money.”
Vietnamese social networks and political forums have been buzzing about this story, with the unusual wealth of the Vietnamese senior officials. Public opinion asks, “Just a district chairperson, where does so much money come from?”
Facebooker Quang Nguyen wondered: “She just became district chairwoman and already have VND100 billion in her account. That’s the top part. As for the bottom line, I don’t know how much more she has. May I ask where does she get so much of it?”
Immediately, Facebooker Dung Dang replied: “Robbers are not leaders. People in politics are concerned about the people, but now, the leaders show that they only do business to get rich, now politics at all!”
Former Tuoi Tre newspaper reporter, journalist Hoang Linh, doubted the above information and wrote on his personal page:
“If you want to approach the Chairperson, you must have relationships, status, introductions, and introduction gifts. Not to mention, if you want to climb to the position of Chairperson, you have to step on many people. If the chairperson can deceive others, no one can deceive the Chairperson.”
Public sees that the corruption situation in Vietnam, in the past, “small people eat small, big people eat big”, has now progressed to a situation where “small people eat big, big people also eat big, but they don’t forgive the small pieces.” Just as former Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan once lamented, about “the situation in which officials take everything from the people.”
The question that arises is, why did the authorities allow such a tragic situation to occur, and who is responsible?
According to analysts, both domestically and internationally, when talking about the Party’s and General Secretary Trong’s anti-corruption work today, they all have the same comment: “The more Vietnam fights, the more corruption there is, so this is a chronic disease of the one-party political system” when the power control and regulation apparatus has been disabled to the point of paralysis, as it is now.
With General Secretary Trong’s authoritarianism and autocracy, since the 12th Party National Congress, the Party Central Committee and the Politburo are only the shadow of the General Secretary. What Mr. Trong said is considered a “resolution” and a “guideline.”
Even though the Party’s Charter clearly stipulates that the function of the Politburo is to lead and inspect the implementation of Party Congress resolutions and Central Committee resolutions; decide on issues of guidelines, policies, staff organization and personnel, for important positions in the Party and state apparatus.
Transparent disclosure of official assets is one of the important factors that determine the success of anti-corruption work in every country, including Vietnam.
A question was raised to Dong Nai Party Committee, as well as General Secretary Trong, about the above scam. That is, public opinion needs to know: “Is the amount of VND170 billion of Nguyen Thi Giang Huong, district chairwoman, shown in the asset declaration or not, and has it been verified or not?”
Again, General Secretary Trong also did not set an example in declaring assets. Specifically, on May 6, 2018, right before the opening day of the 7th Plenum of the 12th Party Central Committee, a collective signed letter appeared on Facebook. Accordingly, party members requested General Secretary Trong to publicly disclose his personal assets.
Public sees that General Secretary Trong launched a drastic anti-corruption campaign, with a commitment to “no restricted areas.” As a leader holding the highest position – General Secretary – he should be exemplary in declaring assets. That is also the principle that all citizens are equal before the law./.
Tra My – Thoibao.de
