Vietnamese State President and former Minister of Public Security To Lam has entered official activities as figure number 2 in the Four Pillars. However, who is the new Minister of Public Security still has no official answer.
According to international observers, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and other leaders of the Communist Party of Vietnam, in recent times, have been extremely “hesitant” at the prospect of former Minister of Public Security To Lam becoming the party chief because they are afraid that he could destroy the ruling party.
Why do they think so badly of State President To Lam?
Public opinion said that in the past, Lam had a quite close relationship with former two-term Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung – General Secretary Trong’s political opponent. Lam was previously the Personal Secretary of Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Huong, Security and Religious Advisor, a close figure to the former PM.
After the 12th Party National Congress, with Beijing’s support, Trong reversed the situation, to defeat former Dung and pushed him to retire. Since then, Trong’s power increased rapidly.
Analysts evaluate:
“The Party Central Committee is only the shadow of General Secretary Trong. What Trong said, the Central Committee members considered as a resolution, and whatever issue he wrote, they were propagated and inflated into guideline like Kim Jong Un in North Korea.”
All political opponents, who were former PM Dung’s juniors, were sent to prison one by one. A typical example is Politburo member and former Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City Dinh La Thang. But in that misfortune, Lam had a blessing. Accordingly, in order to attack Dinh La Thang, it was necessary to arrest Trinh Xuan Thanh.
However, at that time, Thanh quickly ran away and flew to Berlin to ask for political asylum. Immediately, Lam volunteered to “bring” him back to Vietnam, to win General Secretary Trong’s favor, and succeeded. With this “heroic” victory, Lam was trusted by the incumbent party chief, and quickly became his powerful arm.
That is why, Professor Zachary Abuza, from the United States, commented that:
“General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong gave To Lam too much power to fight corruption, and at one point, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong could no longer control General To Lam’s power.”
Meanwhile, there are rumors that former PM Dung had a secret agreement with General Secretary Trong to ensure the latter’s safety after retirement. His two sons Nguyen Thanh Nghi – Minister of Construction; and Nguyen Minh Triet – Secretary of the Central Youth Union cum Chairman of the Central Vietnam Student Association, continue to advance, proof of what has just been said.
But that does not mean that it can be affirmed that Dung is blameless in the recent “leadership power” battle at the top with the rebellion of Lam.
In the case of Colonel Nguyen Duy Linh – former Deputy Director of the General Intelligence Department – son of Gen. Huong, was convicted of allegedly accepting bribes worth $5 million from Phan Van Anh Vu, aka “aluminum” Vu. There has been much evidence to show that Lam – in his role as Minister of Public Security, participated in directing the Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security to falsify the case’s records in order to help Colonel Linh get away with the crime.
The Supreme People’s Procuracy’s decision to return the case file, requesting the Ministry of Public Security to re-investigate, at the request of the Office of the General Secretary, shows that Trong has a very firm grasp of the contents of the Ministry of Public Security.
But at that time, Lam was still of use, so after completing the dossier, Nguyen Duy Linh’s case was brought to trial. Accordingly, the Hanoi People’s Court sentenced Nguyen Duy Linh to 14 years in prison for accepting bribes, with a fine of only $500,000.
At that time, according to knowledgeable people, Lam helped Gen. Huong’s son reduce the bribe amount to only 10%, to reduce his prison sentence. More importantly, the bribe amount difference of more than $4 million was not recovered, which is a big victory. With a 14-year prison sentence, Nguyen Duy Linh will serve about half the time, or 7 years, and then will be released from prison with a sum of millions of dollars, perhaps the “dream” of many people.
Please don’t forget, recently, Gen. Huong was accused by social networks of being the person behind directing the “rebellion” of the Ministry of Public Security and Minister Lam, in the name of the ministry’s “silent coup.”./.
Tra My – Thoibao.de
