Vietnamese President's Resignation Due To Family's Ties To Corruption - Reports

Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who resigned as Vietnam's president earlier this week, had to do so due to the alleged involvement of his wife, Tran Thi Nguyet Thu, and other family members in a $170 million COVID-19 corruption scheme, Channel News Asia reported on Friday, citing an expert in regional studies

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2023) Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who resigned as Vietnam's president earlier this week, had to do so due to the alleged involvement of his wife, Tran Thi Nguyet Thu, and other family members in a $170 million COVID-19 corruption scheme, Channel news Asia reported on Friday, citing an expert in regional studies.

Phuc resigned on Tuesday against the backdrop of a scandal around a controversial 2020 government contract with a private company hired to produce and distribute affordable COVID-19 test kits. Investigators found that the firm had sold millions of fake testing kits to local centers at inflated prices, a scheme which they believe was only possible if facilitated by officials through bribery.

"I think the main reason is that his wife and some of his family members are allegedly involved in some of the corruption scandals," Le Hong Hiep, senior fellow and coordinator of the Vietnam Studies Program at the ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute, told the broadcaster.

The Communist Party did not mention Phuc's wife or family in its statements on his resignation, as it wanted to protect the party's reputation and "save face" for the former president, the expert believes.

"They don't want the public to believe or to think that even the top leaders of the party are corrupt," Le added.

The testing kit scheme has already been dubbed the largest corruption scandal in Vietnam's history. Health and science ministers as well as several other officials have been arrested and are facing criminal charges.