Parliament Speaker Vuong Dinh Hue, the second in the quartet of leaders, resigns. In the background, power struggles are being waged for the new leadership.

Goodbye: Vuong Dinh Hue resigns Photo: Minh Hoang/ap

SEDAN taz | The speaker of Vietnam's parliament, Vuong Dinh Hue, submitted his resignation to the country's highest party body on Friday. He thus drew conclusions from the arrest of his closest colleague a few days ago on unspecified corruption charges. Parliament has yet to accept the resignation at its May meeting, which is considered a formality.

Hue, a 67-year-old economics professor, is part of Vietnam's powerful quartet of leaders, which includes the speaker of parliament, the party leader, the president and the prime minister. He is considered the “collective leadership” of Vietnam.

With Hue's virtual resignation, this leadership quartet now only consists of one and a half people instead of four. In March, President Vo Van Thuong resigned after just one year in office, also over corruption allegations. Since then, his pale and influential deputy has held the position of head of state, and in the background power struggles are going on for his successor.

The most important position in Vietnam, head of the Communist Party, is held by the elderly Nguyen Phu Trong, who is dying and there are videos of him unable to walk or get up from a chair without help.

Corruption is widespread in Vietnam

It remains to be seen whether Vietnam will continue to leave complex succession arrangements in the hands of those pulling the strings of the party's tight leadership or whether it will prefer the party congress actually scheduled for January 2026.

Corruption is widespread in Vietnam, where there are no rival parties, independent courts or a free press. The fight against corruption, which the leadership of the party has assumed, also serves to expel politically disgraced politicians from their positions. For example, corruption accusations against the president, who resigned in March, date back more than ten years.

Powerful Security Minister To Lam is seen as the mastermind behind ousting politicians from office over corruption allegations. He is said to have ambitions for higher office. However, his bid to become president in 2022 failed after closed-door debates in parliament. But if several positions in the quartet of leaders have to be filled soon, he could also come back into play.

The constant resignations of senior officials cause paralysis of decision-makers down to the provincial level. Currently, contracts with foreign investors usually remain in the background because no official wants to sign such contracts and, therefore, assume responsibilities.

Real estate magnate sentenced to death for fraud

This has already caused an outflow of capital abroad in recent weeks. Only after the coronavirus pandemic did Vietnam benefit economically from the withdrawal of foreign investors from China and the search for a new production site in geographical proximity.

Corruption in Vietnam is not limited to politics either; In early April, real estate magnate and banker Truong My Lan was sentenced to death for his role in a multimillion-dollar financial fraud. He is accused of embezzling $12.5 billion. The sum corresponds to almost 3 percent of Vietnam's gross domestic product. The scandal is considered the largest corruption incident in Southeast Asia's history. It has not yet been determined which political officials intervened in the banker's business.