Accused Of Corruption And Violating Communist Party Rules, Vietnam's Minister Of Health And Leader Of Hanpi Fired

Vietnam National Assembly Building. (Wikimedia Commons/xiquinhosilva)

JAKARTA - The Vietnamese government has decided to sack the health minister and the leader of the capital Hanoi, accused of violating the rules of the ruling communist party and causing losses to the state budget.

The sacking of Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long and Hanoi People's Committee Chairman Chu Ngoc Anh, comes amid intensifying anti-corruption efforts in the Southeast Asian nation launched in 2016.

Dozens of senior health officials have been arrested in recent months, accused of wrongdoing in the procurement of medical equipment, including COVID-19 test kits. Senior financial and diplomatic officials were also targeted, and many faced trial and jailed.

The National Assembly, the country's legislature, voted on Tuesday to remove Long, 55, from the position of health minister, which he assumed in 2020, the government said in a statement.

Long has been accused of mismanagement and facilitating local companies to overestimate the price of COVID-19 test kits, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, the Hanoi People's Council met on Tuesday to unanimously dismiss Anh, who was the minister of science and technology before being appointed Hanoi chairman in September 2020.

Long and Anh were also expelled from the Communist Party of Vietnam on Monday, according to another government news release.

The government said Long and Anh had "downgraded political ideology, violated party regulations and caused harm to the state budget". In this regard, calls to Long's phone were unanswered, and Anh was also unreachable.

It is understood the Ministry of Health has assigned its deputy minister Do Xuan Tuyen as acting minister, Vietnam's official news agency quoted the ministry as saying. Hanoi will be temporarily chaired by the city's deputy chairman, Le Hong Son.