Wave of appointments at Airports Corporation raise corruption doubts

The Ministry of Transport has ordered related agencies to investigate the case in which Le Manh Hung, director of the Airports Corporation of Vietnam appointed and promoted 70 officials before retiring.

The Ministry of Transport has ordered related agencies to investigate the case in which Le Manh Hung, director of the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) appointed and promoted 70 officials before retiring.

 

 Le Manh Hung, director of the Airports Corporation of Vietnam

Hung will retire in mid-July but on June 19, he had already signed off documents to appoint over 70 officials into various positions. The newly-appointed officials took their position on July 1. Some offices and departments have one head and two vice heads appointed at the same time.

Hung said, "The appointments followed the procedures. Some were already decided last year but weren't sign off until now. There's nothing shady at all."

Lai Xuan Thanh, chairman of ACV, said, "Most of those appointments should have been signed while the former chairman Nguyen Nguyen Hung was still in office. But the Ministry of Transport said Hung was ready to retire and the new leaders should make the appointments to avoid suspicion of being buying positions."

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The has ordered related agencies to verify the information. According to the ministry, appointing new personnel must be carried out in accordance with the company's demands and procedures. Some positions must be voted by the authorised members or the board of directors.

However, a leader from the Ministry of Transport said ACV was being reformed so some offices and departments had their names changed and new personnel. Despite all that, appointing over 70 officials at the same time was too much.

Nguyen Tri Duc, chief of the office of the Ministry of Transport said, "We've asked ACV to report on the case and will announce the results after receiving the information."