Politburo Regulation 41 helps senior officials ‘land safely’?

Many high-ranking leaders, including members of the Politburo, seem to be allowed by the Communist Party of Vietnam to “land safely” by proactively resigning when they make mistakes.

Since the Politburo’s Regulation No. 41-QD/TW on the dismissal and resignation of officials, the Communist Party of Vietnam has made changes in disciplining high-ranking officials.

Regulation 41 was signed and issued by Standing Committee of the Secretariat Vo Van Thuong on behalf of the Politburo on November 3, 2021.

There is a notable detail: Mr. Thuong is the person who signed Regulation 41 (on behalf of the Politburo) on November 3, 2021, then 2 years and 5 months later (March 20, 2024), he himself signed lost his position because of this regulation.

In addition to Mr. Thuong, three members of the 13th Politburo and a number of members of the 13th Party Central Committee had to end their political careers because Regulation 41.

Since the introduction of Regulation 41, many high-ranking Party members, when making mistakes, have applied to “quit” and received “the Party’s approval”.

This is an important change in the way officials and officials who are considered “indulgent” are handled.

This “quit” or “safe landing” process helps the Party maintain its image in the eyes of the public and helps high-ranking party members who make mistakes escape the possibility of criminal prosecution.

In January 2023, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc had to “political responsibility of the leader when many officials, including 2 deputy prime ministers and 3 ministers, committed violations and shortcomings, causing very serious consequences; Two deputy prime ministers have resigned from their positions, two ministers and many officials have been criminally prosecuted.”

Mr. Phuc, Mr. Minh and Mr. Dam are probably the first senior leaders to apply the “please stop” process.

According to the official announcement of the Communist Party of Vietnam, “well aware of his responsibility to the Party and the people, he has applied for resignation”.

Thus, currently the 13th Politburo only has 14 people, while at the beginning of the term, this number was 18 people.

The four members of the 13th Politburo who are subject to the “please stop” process are Vo Van Thuong, Tran Tuan Anh, Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Pham Binh Minh.

This process was explained by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in a meeting with voters in May 2023 and was considered “a new point”, with the Party encouraging officials, including senior officials, to resign from their positions. .

“If you have violated the law and see that your hand is involved, it’s best to stop.”

“If you don’t deserve it, then resign. It’s humane, merciful, and compassionate. Retreating with honor is best. There have been many cases recently and more, comrades, just wait and see,” General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong emphasized.

“Honourable withdrawal” here can be understood to mean that these officials still enjoy the benefits according to the rank of a former leader and, importantly, are not subject to criminal prosecution.

In the case of Mr. Vo Van Thuong and his predecessor Nguyen Xuan Phuc, both of them are said to be involved in major corruption cases, but the announcement about their dismissal did not detail the violations. .

At the time Mr. Thuong “asked for it”, Doctor of Political Science Nguyen Khac Giang, a guest researcher at the ISEAS Institute (Singapore), explained to the BBC that, all the language about Mr. Thuong’s violations, or before that, Mr. Phuc, are all general and vague.

“Not disclosing any wrongdoing or position is to avoid the fact that when giving that information, the person associated with that information will not only be prosecuted in terms of the Party but also criminally. It will cause The Party is in a very dilemma regarding the story: being a high-ranking leader, up to the ‘Four Pillars’ level, being punished will greatly affect the Party’s reputation,” Mr. Giang commented.

There is also another logic, that is, if Mr. Vo Van Thuong’s mistakes are exposed, then according to Regulation 41, the “responsible person” will be General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

Among the Quang Ngai leaders arrested on charges of “receiving bribes” in the Phuc Son Group case, There is Mr. Cao Khoa was the Chairman of this Provincial People’s Committee from 2011 to 2014, coinciding with the time Mr. Thuong was Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee here.

Some official media channels of local governments in Vietnam have detailed: “The reports of the Central Committee and the petition of comrade Vo Van Thuong clearly state that the time comrade Thuong served as Secretary of the Quang Provincial Party Committee Ngai did not strictly control, causing officials under his authority to violate the law, allowing a business to take on many projects in its name, interfere with staff work, and lose trust among the people.”

In the case of Nguyen Xuan Phuc, there have been many rumors that his wife and family were involved in the Viet A case, so his political career had to end.

During the handover ceremony before leaving office on February 4, 2023, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc said: “My family, my wife, and my children do not have personal interests or corruption related to Viet A.”

This is considered a rare time one of the “Four Pillars” spoke up about rumors surrounding his resignation.

Regarding the “please stop” case of Politburo member, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, during the press conference of the National Assembly on January 9, 2023, Thanh Nien newspaper asked the question:

“So can Mr. Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam resign? Regulation 41 on resignation and dismissal stipulates many grounds for resignation, so Mr. Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam resigned for this reason. What?”

In response, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, Deputy Head of the Delegate Affairs Committee of the National Assembly Standing Committee, said that the decisions are based on the Party’s regulations, the State’s laws, and the processes are followed in accordance with regulations. legal regulations. Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh added that the National Assembly approved the dismissal of Mr. Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam based on personal wishes.

The official answer is still unclear, but it can be understood that Mr. Pham Binh Minh was also dismissed according to Regulation 41 although it is unclear under which article or clause.

There is one thing worth noting Mr. Nguyen Quang Linh – former assistant of Mr. Pham Binh Minh – was determined by the security agency to have received more than 4.2 billion VND in bribes in the “rescue flight” case.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Linh was appointed assistant to Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh from December 31, 2013 until his arrest in September 2022. Mr. Linh was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

Clause 3, Article 7 of Regulation 41 clearly states: “Resign the head when the agency or unit under his/her management, responsibility or direct subordinates has serious corruption or negativity.”

Clause 2, Article 76 of Decree 59/2019 clearly states: “A serious corruption case is a case in which a person committing corrupt acts is punished by imprisonment from over 03 years to 07 years.”

The time of prosecution and sentencing of Mr. Nguyen Quang Linh occurred after the time of Mr. Pham Binh Minh’s dismissal (January 2023). However, immediately after Mr. Linh was prosecuted and detained (September 2022) for the crime of “Receiving bribes” prescribed in Article 354 of the Penal Code, a crime that carries a penalty of up to death. In terms of the Party, the issue of responsibility of the leader can already be considered.

Therefore, his direct leader, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, may have been disciplined according to Clause 3, Article 7 of Regulation 41, although the Communist Party of Vietnam has never clearly announced this.

Thus, when stringing together the above information, it can be seen that four members of the 13th Politburo, including Vo Van Thuong, Tran Tuan Anh, Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Pham Binh Minh, were “resigned” according to Regulation 41.

Before Regulation 41 was issued, three members of the 12th Politburo were subject to Party discipline.

Among them, Mr. Nguyen Van Binh and Mr. Hoang Trung Hai were disciplined by the Party with a warning.

The most serious was Mr. Dinh La Thang, who was expelled from the Party.

Mr. Thang later became the first current Politburo member in the history of the Communist Party of Vietnam to be criminally prosecuted and sentenced to 30 years in prison.