VietNamNet Bridge - This decision was made after Ms. Tran Hong Ly, who is said to have an "intimate relationship" with Chairman Tran Khieu, was expelled from the Party.

 

 

Tra Vinh Province's Chairman Tran Khieu.

On April 14, Mr. Tran Khieu, Chairman of the southern province of Tra Vinh, sent a petition to ask the Tra Vinh Provincial Party Committee’s approval for his early retirement for the reasons of "poor health."

Khieu also said that although his retirement age is to come in over one year, he wanted to leave this place immediately in order to "create conditions for the younger generation."

Khieu’s decision came after the rumor of his "intimate relationship" with Ms. Tran Hong Ly, 34, Deputy Chief of the Business and Labor Management Division of the Tra Vinh Economic Zone Management Board. Ly is said to count on Khieu’s power to do wrong things.

On the night of January 7, Ly rushed into the head office of the Tra Vinh People’s Committee, used a brick to break the glass window of Khieu’s car and beat a police officer. Before that, Ly disturbed at Khieu’s home in order to make clear the rumor that Khieu’s wife had compared Ly with an “internal prostitute”.

Ly has been expelled from the Party for violating ethical lifestyle, discredit herself and her agency. The Management Board of Tra Vinh Economic Zone will also punish Ly.

Referring to the relationship with Lya, Khieu said when he was in the army, Ly's family fostered and hid him so he owns this family a debt of gratitude. "My family and Ms. Ly’s family are close as brothers in a family. I affirm that we have never exceeded the limit of a brother and a sister," said Khieu.

Ly also affirmed: "The relation between I and Mr. Khieu is the relationship between a leader and an employee because Mr. Khieu used to be the chief of the Tra Vinh Economic Zone. I and Mr. Khieu are fellow-countrymen. His driver’s wife is my relative."

Ly is single but she is now eight weeks pregnant, Ly said.

Mr. Tran Khieu was born in May 1954 in An Truong commune, Cang Long district, Tra Vinh province. After the country’s unification, he was the Deputy Secretary of the Cuu Long Province Youth Union, Deputy Chief of the Administrative Organization, Chief Inspector of Tra Vinh and Cang Long district’s Party Secretary in 2003. In 2004, he was the Vice-president of Tra Vinh Province. In June 2011 he was elected as Chairman of Tra Vinh in the 2011-2016 period.

Tran Cham