The information and education board of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee has decided to suspend Tat Thanh Cang, deputy head of the compilation group for the history of the city’s Party organisation, from work for three months to serve an investigation, the board said on December 20.

Tat Thanh Cang, deputy head of the compilation group for the history of the city’s
Party organisation, has been suspended from work for three months
(Photo: VNA)

On December 16, police launched legal action against Cang, who is former Standing Vice Secretary of the municipal Party Committee, and put him in temporary detention to serve a probe into the charge of “violating regulations on management and use of State assets, causing losses and wastefulness”.

Cang was accused of being involved in several violations found at the South Saigon Development JSC (Sadeco).

While serving as Standing Vice Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee, he reportedly approved the plan to issue shares to strategic stakeholders to raise Sadeco’s charter capital, which led to big losses to the State. This case is still under investigation.

Regarding this case, the Standing Board of the municipal People’s Council suspended Cang from his membership of this council in the 2016-2021 tenure.

During its 31st and 32nd sessions in late 2018, the Inspection Commission of the Party Central Committee concluded that Cang had flouted the principle of democratic centralism, the municipal Party Committee’s authority and working regulations on the management and use of assets in enterprises owned by the city’s Party organisation, along with legal regulations on making decisions about business cooperation and transfer of projects and land use rights of the firms subordinate to the municipal Party Committee.

He also allowed the person representing the Party Committee’s capital to vote on the issuance of shares to strategic shareholders at enterprises.

He was found to have been irresponsible and lax in leadership, management, and inspection of the areas within his remit, which caused big losses to the municipal Party Committee’s budget.

In addition, while being member of the city’s Party Committee and People’s Committee, and Director of the municipal Department of Transport, Cang also infringed regulations on land and construction investment management when approving the building of four main roads in the Thu Thiem new urban area.

His wrongdoings were “very serious”, stirred public concern, and affected the municipal Party Committee’s prestige so greatly that calls for disciplinary measures, according to the Inspection Commission.

Given his “very serious” shortcomings and violations, the 12th Party Central Committee, at its ninth session in late 2018, sacked Cang from his posts as member of the 12th Party Central Committee, Standing Vice Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee and member of the municipal Party Committee’s Standing Board in the 2015-2020 tenure.