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Background Briefing: Vietnam: Anti-Corruption Chief a Toothless Tiger? Carlyle A. Thayer March 6, 2013

[client name deleted] In your background briefing about Nguyen Ba Thanh [Thayer, Vietnam: AntiCorruption Unit Begins Work, Thayer Consultancy Background Brief, February 24, 2013 archived at Scribd.com], you wrote that: "Nguyen Ba Thanh has been mentioned in various party and government reports for his alleged corrupt activities. None of this mud has stuck." Nguyen Ba Thanh has become embroiled in a new development. The Government Inspectorate issued a report that concluded Mr Thanh, as chairman of the Da Nang People's Committee in 2003, should be held accountable for a raft of land-related wrongdoings. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung ordered the probe and authorized the Government Inspectorates findings to be made public. How does this development bear on Mr Thanh's role as head of the Central Internal Affairs Commission? Do the charges in the Government Inspectorates report render Mr Thanh a toothless tiger in the current anti-graft campaign? ANSWER: In the remarks that you cited I was in fact referring to the report by the Government Inspectorate and its findings. The Government Inspectorates Report will be damaging to Nguyen Be Thanh if they are accepted as showing he was lax in exercising oversight and/or accepted kickbacks and bribes. The Report needs to be acted upon by police and other legal authorities. If so, Thanh should be suspended from his position as head of the Central Internal Affairs Commission until a final determination is made. The person who heads the Central Internal Affairs Commission must have an impeccable background to have any credibility. In a liberal parliamentary system Thanh likely would resign to avoid embarrassing his sponsors and lowering the prestige of the party. It should be noted, however, that the Government Inspectorate falls under the purview of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. The Central Commission of Internal Affairs comes under the direction of the Central Steering Committee for AntiCorruption headed by the party Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong. It is likely that Mr Thanhs case will reflect the balance of political power within the Vietnam Communist Party rather than a purely legal determination of his responsibility.

2 Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, Vietnam: Anti-Corruption Chief a Toothless Tiger?, Thayer Consultancy Background Brief, March 6, 2013. Thayer Consultancy Background Briefs are archived at Scribd.com