Two Vietnamese former ministers detained for involvement in buyout scandal

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Linh Pham 08:33, 2019/02/24

Nguyen Bac Son and Truong Minh Tuan are those mainly responsible for the MobiFone - AVG deal.

Vietnam’s police on February 23 arrested two former ministers of information and communications for their main involvement in a corporate acquisition which caused a loss of hundreds of million US dollars to the state.

Nguyen Bac Son and Truong Minh Tuan. Photo: Soha

Nguyen Bac Son (L) and Truong Minh Tuan. Photo: Soha

Nguyen Bac Son, 66, and Truong Minh Tuan, 59, allegedly “violated regulations on state capital control, causing serious damage” regulated in the Criminal Code.

In October 2018, the highest legislative body National Assembly stripped Son of the title of minister for the 2011-2016 term while the party’s Central Committee in the same month imposed demotion punishment on him.

Truong Minh Tuan, meanwhile, in July 2018 was warned by the Politburo and dismissed from the post of minister in October 2018 after two years of holding the position.

The acquisition took place in 2016 in which state-run MobiFone, among Vietnam’s three largest mobile companies by subscribers, bought a 95% stake at loss-making TV pay service provider Audio Visual Global JSC (AVG) for VND8.9 trillion (US$386 million), which was believed to be overpaid.

The deal was cancelled last year and AVG returned the amount to MobiFone.

Some senior officials last year were arrested for their involvement in the case, including MobiFone's former General Director Cao Duy Hai and former Deputy Director Pham Thi Phuong Anh. In addition, a number of senior officials from different ministries were disciplined.

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