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Vuong Dinh Hue

The Party Central Party Committee agreed 26 April 2024 to relieve Mr. Vuong Dinh Hue from his positions as a member of the Politburo, a member of the 13th Party Central Committee, and Chairman of the 15th National Assembly. Mr. Vuong Dinh Hue is allowed to cease holding leadership positions. Reports by the Party Central Committee’s Inspection Commission said that Mr. Hue violated Party regulations on things Party members must not do; and regulations concerning the responsibility to set an example assigned to officials and Party members; first, members of the Politburo, the Secretariat, and the Party Central Committee; and second, his responsibility as a leader in line with the Party’s regulations and the State’s laws. The Committee said, being made aware of his responsibility before the Party, the State and the people, Mr. Hue submitted an application to resign from all his positions.

The ouster of Vuong Dinh Hue was the latest in a series of high-level officials to be removed in a wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign, sets the stage for more infighting at the top of the communist state. Hue was the fifth Politburo member to be ousted this term, falling to the “Blazing Furnace” anti-corruption campaign that has already claimed Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, economic commission chief Tran Tuan Anh, and President Vo Van Thuong. The Politburo was down to 13 members in what had become a nasty battle of attrition, 19 months out from the 14th Party Congress in January 2026. Hue’s removal clearly shook things up in the race to be the next CPV General Secretary. Hue was one of four eligible candidates under existing party rules to succeed the three-term Nguyen Phu Trong. The simple answer to the question what brought Hue down is power politics and ambition.

To Lam, the minister of public security, wants the job and has the immense investigative powers at his disposal to build a far reaching case into his rivals’ extended business dealings and personal lives. Over the past few weeks, Lam presented evidence about Hue’s transgressions. This is what he did with Vo Van Thuong, where he laid out details regarding a VND16 billion (US$630,000) bribe. Lam expected Hue to behave like Thuong, who acknowledged his misdeeds and bowed out quietly; the soft landing was his reward. By several accounts, Hue not only didn’t accept the soft landing, but denied all allegations, before threatening to spill the tea on his Politburo colleagues’ own business dealings.

Lam then moved with alacrity, and as always, the action began with the aide. Upon his return from a five-day official trip to China, police arrested Pham Thai Ha, 48, the deputy head of the National Assembly Office. Ha, who has a PhD in finance, had been Hue’s assistant for 20 years. At every stage of Hue’s career, beginning in the State Audit Office, and the at the Ministry of Finance, the Central Economic Commission, and lastly the National Assembly, Ha had served as Hue’s deputy.

Ha was arrested at the airport, apparently in front of his boss just for added psychological effect. His arrest was part of an investigation into Thuan An Joint Stock Company, a relatively small developer that had a fortuitous run, securing 38 of 47 government tenders for major infrastructure projects. The firm’s leadership was detained on April 15. Its general director has been charged with bribery, while its deputy director general is being held and investigated for bribery and bid-rigging. In all, six people had been arrested, including three officials in Bac Giang province. Hue’s personal life – including multiple allegations of mistresses, which have long been a staple on social media – destroyed any hope of him surviving.

Being a professor and PhD of Economics, Vuong Dinh Hue was considered by observers to be one of the most prominent technocrats in Vietnamese politics. In his role as Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Hue had the duty to help Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, monitor and direct economic fields, including the arrangement and renovation of state-owned enterprises. Mr. Hue was also the person directly leading the negotiation and implementation of bilateral and multilateral economic agreements.

He assisted Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in directing ministries: the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance, the State Bank of Vietnam, the National Financial Supervisory Commission, the Vietnam Social Insurance, the Development Bank of Vietnam, the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, the State Capital Investment Corporation, and Deposit Insurance. He was also the chairman of National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council; the head of Steering Committee for research and implementation of state salary policy reform; the head of Steering Committee for Enterprise Innovation and Development, etc.

Hue was appointed Secretary of the municipal Party Committee in the 2015-2020 tenure by the Political Bureau on February 7. The Nghe An-born politician had been Deputy Prime Minister from April 2016 to February 2020, and a Politburo member since 2016.

Hue holds a doctoral degree in economics and was a professor at the Hanoi-based Academy of Finance in the 1990s. He was state auditor-general between 2006 and 2011, minister of finance from 2011 until 2013, and head of the Party’s Central Economic Committee between 2012 and 2016.

In May 2013, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong supported Mr. Nguyen Ba Thanh and Hue, who were heads of the Internal Affairs and Central Economic Commission, respectively, to run for two positions in the Politburo. However, the party’s Central Committee voted for two other candidates, Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan and Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. At the 7th plenum of the Central Committee ended on May 11, 2013, Chief of the Internal Affairs Committee Thanh and Head of the Central Economic Committee Hue failed to get to become members of the party’s agency with highest authority. At that time, commentators called this the failure of General Secretary Trong. Meeting with voters on May 13, 2013, Mr. Trong commented: “The authority is the Central Committee, the Politburo is also the agency that submit proposals for the Central Committee to decide.

Hue, then continued to be a member of the 11th Central Committee and the head of its Central Economic Committee, from Dec 2012 to Jan 2016. At the 12th Party Congress, he was elected in the Politburo. From April 2016, he was officially Deputy Prime Minister until February 7 this year, when he was appointed as Secretary of Hanoi Party Committee.

Politburo member and Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue was appointed as the secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee during a meeting of key officials of the committee in the capital city on 07 February 2020. He replaced Hoang Trung Hai, who had been the Party chief of Hanoi from 2016. Hai received a disciplinary warning from the Politburo for “serious violations and shortcomings” related to a project to expand production at state-run Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Joint Stock Corporation, which specializes in making cast iron and steel, known as the TISCO II project. As the deputy prime minister, Hai displayed a lack of responsibility and failed to thoroughly consider opinions of ministries and agencies on a contract during the project’s second phase, according to the Politburo’s conclusion.

This Politburo’s move shows that these two characters will go in opposite directions, one is the possibility of further advancement for Mr. Hue and the possibility that Mr. Hai will become a wood-burning furnace because wrongdoing causing huge loss and damage to state assets.

Observers made assumptions that Hue’s leadership of Hanoi Party Committee is only a temporary measure from now to the 13th Party Congress, scheduled for Jan 2021. He will likely be nominated for one of the four highest positions (general secretary, president, Prime Minister, and president of the National Assembly). No matter what you predict, it is clear that Mr. Hue’s road of promotion was increasingly favorable. Hue still held the deputy prime minister post. In its first meeting Oct 13, 2020, the 17th-tenure Party Committee of Hanoi elected 16 to its Standing Board and Vuong Dinh Hue as its Secretary for the 17th tenure with all the Party Committee’s 71 members voting for him.

Born in 1957, according to the official biography, from 1979 to 1985, Mr. Vuong Dinh Hue was a lecturer at Hanoi University of Finance and Accounting (now Finance Academy). From 1986 to 1990, he was a PhD student at the University of Economics in Bratislava, Republic of Slovakia. After returning home, he worked as a lecturer at Hanoi University of Finance and Accounting, then became head of Accounting Department from 1994 to 1999.

- Date of birth: March 15, 1957

- Native place: Nghi Xuan commune, Nghi Loc district, Nghe An province

- Date of Party admission: March 9, 1984; date of official membership: September 9, 1985

- Education: Professor, Doctor of Economics

- Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (10th, 11th, 12th tenures);

- Member of the Politburo of the 12th CPV Central Committee

- Deputy to the 13th and 14th National Assembly

September, 1979 – 1985: lecturer of the University of Finance and Accountancy;

1985 – 1986: trainee of the European Faculty at the Ha Noi Foreign Language University;

1986 – 1990: trainee of the Bratislava Economic University, the Slovak Republic;

1991 – 1992: lecturer of the Accounting Faculty; the University of Finance and Accountancy;

October, 1992 – April, 1994: Deputy Dean of the Accounting Faculty, Acting Dean of the Accounting Faculty of the University of Finance and Accountancy;

May, 1994 – February, 1999: Dean of the Accounting Faculty of the University of Finance and Accountancy;

March, 1999 – June, 2001: Assistant Principal on training of the University of Finance and Accountancy;

July, 2001 – June, 2006: Vice Chief State Auditor;

July, 2006 – August, 2011: Chief State Auditor;

August, 2011 – December, 2012: Minister of Finance;

December, 2012 – January, 2016: Head of the Party Central Committee's Economic Commission;

January, 2016 – April, 2016: Member of the Politburo, Head of the Member of the Politburo, Head of the the Party Central Committee's Economic Commission;

April, 2016 – present: Member of the Politburo, Deputy Prime Minister, Head of the Steering Committee for the Southwest Region.

Politburo issued Decision No. 1818-QDNS/TW dated February 7, 2020 assigning Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue to hold the position of Secretary of the Ha Noi Municipal Party Committee for the 2015-2020 tenure./.