Vietnam’s military generals disciplined for land management violations

Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Thanh, former Party chief and former Political Commissar of the Air and Air Defense Force, was given an official warning at a meeting of the Party’s Central Inspection Committee on July 24-26 in Hanoi. Vietnam’s Party has four modes of punishment for misconduct by official members: reprimand, warning, demotion and expulsion.

The committee also recommended that the Party’s Secretariat take disciplinary actions against Colonel General Phuong Minh Hoa, former Vice Chairman of the Political Bureau of the Vietnam People’s Army, former deputy Party chief and former Commander of the Air and Air Defense Force.

It urged the Central Military Commission to take disciplinary actions against the Standing Committee of the Air and Air Defense Force’s Party unit for the term 2010-2015.

The Central Inspection Committee last month concluded that the Air Force committee had violated the democratic centralism principle, working regulations and showed negligence in leading, managing, inspecting and supervising the force.

These violations enabled multiple wrongdoings^[1] in the management and use of military land, such as military land being illegally used for economic purposes or violations in a housing project for soldiers.

Inspectors held Hoa mainly responsible for the violations. He was found to have directly signed papers to give up military land illegally for economic purposes.

Thanh is also held responsible for the committee’s violations as its leader, and was found to have approved for some unqualified people to benefit from the military’s housing projects.

Also at the meeting on July 24-26, the Party inspectors also urged discriplinary actions be taken against seven top officials of the Ministry of Public Security, for violations in protecting state secrets.

A series of dismissals and warnings against high-rank officials are adding heat to Vietnam’s corruption crackdown spearheaded by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

Scores of top officials and businesspeople have been put under probe or sent to jail^[2] over the past couple years. Trong, 74, has said that the corruption fight would keep up momentum^[3] and continue moving forward, sparing no one.