Truong Minh Tuan, suspended minister of Information and Communications, has expressed the desire to vacate his position on the Executive Board of the Party Committee of the Central Agencies Bloc for the 2015-2020 tenure.

Nguyen Bac Son (L), former Minister of Information and Communications and his now suspended successor Truong Minh Tuan in this combination file photo

On Wednesday, the committee held a conference to review the January-September performance and identify key tasks for the last quarter of this year.

Vu Duc Nam, head of the committee’s Ideology and Education Commission, told Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper that its members had voted on the resignation of Tuan from the executive board in the current tenure.

Tuan is a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam and a deputy head of the Party Central Committee’s Ideology and Education Commission.

“The results of the vote, which have not been announced at this point, are pending the consideration and decision of a competent agency,” he said.

The National Assembly is scheduled to vote on the dismissal of Tuan from the post of Minister of Information and Communications on the opening day of its sixth session, on October 22, based on his serious violations in a now-cancelled deal, in which State-run MobiFone Telecommunications Corporation had illegally acquired a 95% stake in private pay TV firm AVG.

The following day, the legislative body will proceed with a vote on the appointment of Nguyen Manh Hung as the new minister of Information and Communications. Prior to his appointment, Hung served as chairman and general director of the Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group.

On July 23, late State President Tran Dai Quang suspended Tuan from the ministerial post. Tuan had signed a decision approving AVG’s acquisition, while serving as deputy minister at the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC).

Multiple irregularities have been uncovered in the acquisition process, initiated by MobiFone, a business under the ministry and the country’s third-largest mobile carrier by subscription. MobiFone had spent roughly VND8.89 trillion (some US$390 million) buying 344.66 million AVG shares in late 2015.

Following a probe into the deal, the Government Inspectorate concluded that AVG started incurring losses after it was acquired by MobiFone. The irregularities and irresponsibility of MobiFone have cost the State some VND7 trillion, including AVG’s liabilities of VND1.13 trillion.

Last week, Nguyen Bac Son, former Minister of Information and Communications, was retroactively stripped of his titles as a member of the 11th Party Central Committee and secretary of the ministry’s Party unit for the 2011-2016 tenure.

The action against Son was taken after the Politburo, the Party’s decision-making body, asked the Party Central Committee in July to initiate strict disciplinary action against him for his violations in the acquisition.

The Politburo held Son mainly responsible for the serious violations and shortcomings of the committee’s Party unit during his 2011-2016 tenure.

Son was found to have signed documents related to the project for submission to the then-Prime Minister for approval, and he assigned his subordinates to sign a number of relevant documents, which ran counter to regulations as this task was beyond their authority.

SGT