The Vietnamese president has resigned amid corruption scandals. Before that, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Republic dismissed two vice-premiers and several ministers

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam accepted the resignation of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Most likely, its reason is the involvement of the former president in large-scale corruption scandals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nguyen Xuan PhucNguyen Xuan PhucNguyen Xuan Phuc

Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has resigned, the online publication VN Express reported on January 17. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) accepted the resignation of Nguyen, 68, as a member of the Politburo, a member of the 13th Central Committee of the party and president, the report said.

“Conscious of his responsibility to the party and the people, he submitted a letter of resignation from his appointed positions, dismissal from his job and retirement,” the Vietnam News agency quoted the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam as saying. Nguyen, who became president in the spring of 2021, "made great efforts" to lead the country and fight against COVID-19, achieving important results, the Central Committee said in a statement. It also noted that during his presidency, many officials, including two vice-premiers and three ministers, "permitted violations that led to serious consequences." Two vice-premiers have resigned, and two ministers and many other officials have been prosecuted, the report said.

This is the first time in Vietnam's history that a president has left office early, writes The Diplomat, which specializes in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. The resignation will have to be approved by the National Assembly (Vietnam's unicameral parliament), which will meet in an emergency meeting this week.

According to the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the president is the head of state, who represents the country in the international arena, he is elected by the National Assembly from among its deputies. The National Assembly, which is the country's highest authority, will approve the resignations of "high-ranking officials" this week, Reuters reported citing its sources.

Vietnam's form of government is a parliamentary republic, but the only legal party in the country is the Communist Party. The position of president is the second most important after the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, whose position has been held since 2011 by Nguyen Phu Trong.

The president appoints the head of government, the prime minister and other officials, is a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Poland and the Politburo. His term of office is five years.

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Economic success

Nguyen Xuan Phuc began his political career in 1979 at the regional level, since 2006 he worked in the central executive bodies, in 2011 he became a member of the main political body of the country - the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam. From April 2016 to April 2021, he headed the government, then he was elected president.

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In the same year, Nguyen Phu Trong was re-elected for a third five-year term as general secretary of the CPV Central Committee. The fight against corruption has long been his priority topic, notes The Washington Post. His second five-year term as General Secretary was marked by the persecution of the chairman of the People's Committee (mayor) of Hanoi and two members of the government.

During the premiership and presidency of Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the country's GDP grew by 1.4 times compared to 2015, and Vietnam entered the top 40 economies in the world, a message on the website of the government of the republic said. The country's economy grew during the pandemic, in 2022 the growth was 8%.

The resignation of the president and other high-ranking officials could lead, Reuters writes, to more competent personnel taking their places, but also provoke domestic political instability.

Pandemic corruption

A wave of resignations of high-ranking officials, caused by suspicions of corruption, began last year. In early January, the National Assembly approved the dismissals of Deputy Prime Ministers Pham Binh Min (in charge of foreign relations) and Vu Duk Dam. The reasons were not publicly explained. So far, no official charges have been filed against the vice-premiers.

A possible reason for their departure was the ongoing case of the Viet A corporation, The Diplomat believes, which has affected many high-ranking officials, including former health minister Nguyen Thanh Long. In total, by mid-January, at least 100 people had been arrested in this case. According to the newspaper, the resignation of the president after the resignation of vice-premiers was expected, but the sequence of these personnel decisions may indicate that the CPV has changed tactics: it allows alleged corrupt officials to leave on their own and with dignity, unlike those who fell into last year's series of dismissals, arrests and prosecutions like Minister of Health or former Ambassador to Japan Wu Hong Nam. Nguyen Phu Trong spoke about this approach, aimed at preserving the reputation of the CPV, in an interview on the occasion of the New Year: the Central Committee, he said, should adopt a policy that encourages those who make mistakes to leave voluntarily and compensate the country for their losses, in which case they will be treated leniently or even released from punishment. “It is not good to severely punish everyone or remove everyone from their posts,” Nguyen Phu Trong summed up.

In addition to the Viet A case, which focuses on the supply of COVID-19 testing kits, the country is also investigating a major case of corruption in the organization of repatriation flights. At the start of the pandemic, the government arranged about 800 flights to bring back more than 200,000 Vietnamese from more than 60 countries. As it turned out, ticket prices were inflated. The case began with the arrests of several employees of the consular department of the Foreign Ministry. Since then, 34 officials have been arrested or are under investigation, writes the Vietnamese online publication VnExpress. As for the Viet A case, CEO Phan Quoc Viet admitted to overpricing the testing kits by 45% and paying more than $30 million in "bonuses" to company partners and officials.

Nguyen Xuan Phu and Russia

Russia and Vietnam are strategic partners, Nguyen Xuan Phuc met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin several times. In particular, in 2021 he became one of the few politicians who visited Moscow for a meeting with Putin.

As the Council on Foreign Relations notes, the close ties between the two countries, dating back to the Vietnam War, have been tested for strength since the beginning of the Russian military operation in Ukraine. When voting on the Ukrainian issue in the UN General Assembly, Vietnam abstained, and also voted against the exclusion of Russia from the UN Human Rights Council. But the United States  is the main economic partner of the republic, the trade turnover between these two countries in 2021 amounted to $112 billion (Vietnam and Russia had $5.54 billion in the same year). Given the sanctions imposed against Russia, Hanoi risks being hit by secondary sanctions, primarily due to ongoing military cooperation with Moscow.