A former head of the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam was found making three dozen abnormal appointment decisions shortly before retiring, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced.

According to the ministry, a probe by its inspectorate into the wrongdoings of former chief state inspector Huynh Phong Tranh has been completed, but the results are not yet available.

Ngo Van Khanh, deputy head of the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam, confirmed the probe with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper at a meeting in Hanoi on Thursday, but did not comment on when the investigation results will be publicized.

Tranh, 61, led the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam from August 2011 to April 2016.

Abundant number of deputies

The Government Inspectorate of Vietnam is a ministry-level entity managed by the government.

Under decree No.178, each subordinate agency under the ministry-level entity should have no more than three deputy officials, but many departments and bureaus under the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam have violated this regulation for years.

The state inspectorate’s Department No.3, for example, currently has six deputy officials, while the directors of Departments No.1, 2 and 3 have four deputies each.

Departments No.1, 2 and 3 are in charge of handling complaints and disputes, whereas Department No.4 is the anti-corruption unit.

According to an order by the Party Central Committee Secretariat, personnel changes at the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam should be limited to officials from departments that have reached their limit to be transferred to departments with vacancies.

However, within the six months prior to his retirement in April this year, former chief inspectorate Tranh approved 35 appointment decisions.

In many cases, Tranh appointed new people to new positions, instead of doing position transfers in the manner requested by the Party Central Committee Secretariat.

Unusual appointments

According to files reviewed by Tuoi Tre, many of the appointment decisions Tranh made prior to his retirement were abnormal.

In early March 2016, Tranh signed a directive to promote Nguyen Minh Man, then deputy of the Department No.3, to department head.

The appointment was made while the Department No.3 incumbent head Ngo Van Cao was still in charge, as his retirement only began in June.

Tranh’s appointment led to an odd situation in which a deputy official was authorized to oversee his superior for three months.

Tranh was also found to be violating regulations while appointing numerous new division-level officials in the six-month window before he left the job.

Under a resolution by the Politburo and a directive by the Prime Minister, no state entities are allowed to appoint division-level positions.

However, Tranh appointed three new division heads and five division deputy heads to two departments and one bureau under the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam.

Nothing wrong?

Hoang Hung, deputy head of the personnel department under the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam, has defended many of Tranh’s decisions when speaking to Tuoi Tre on Thursday.

Asked about the 35 department- and bureau-level appointments Tranh had approved, Hung said all of the positions had been included in a personnel plan approved by the government.

Hung also said his former boss, Tranh, did not follow the official transfer rule because he “had to choose the right person for the right position.”

“You cannot transfer an anti-corruption official to the bureau in charge of publishing the inspectorate’s magazine,” Hung added.

Commenting on the appointment of a new department head while the incumbent official had yet to retire, Hung said the decision was made out of an unexpected situation.

“The incumbent department head Cao asked for a sick leave, so we needed to fill in his vacancy,” Hung explained.

However, according to documents reviewed by Tuoi Tre, Cao retained his normal responsibilities until his retirement and there was no indication of sick leave.

Asked about the failure to abide by deputy official limits, Hung admitted that four bureaus under the state inspectorate have more deputies than allowed, but added that it is “the legacy of previous terms.”

“We are rearranging our personnel and some of the officials also plan to retire,” he said.

Hung refused to comment on the appointments of the division-level officials.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!