The Ho Chi Minh City Government and Party on Thursday announced disciplinary actions against eight top officials at four city-based public service companies who have violated labor regulations and abused wages, through which they paid themselves up to US$123,600 per year.
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Accordingly, the city People’s Committee sacked Le Thanh Son, the director of the HCMC Urban Drainage Co Ltd, and Tran Trong Hue, the chairman of the Management Board of HCMC Public Lighting Co Ltd. Meanwhile, the other six officials were removed from their posts as directors or chairmen of the Boards of Management of four companies: HCMC Urban Drainage Co Ltd, HCMC Public Lighting Co Ltd, Saigon Traffic Works Co Ltd, and HCMC Green Tree and Park Co Ltd. At the same time the local Party Committee expelled three of them from the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and removed the other five from their current posts in their Party units. Specifically, Nguyen Trong Luyen, who was chairman of the Board of Management of HCMC Urban Drainage Co Ltd; Le Thanh Son, who was director of the same company; and Tran Trong Hue, who was chairman of the Board of Management of HCMC Public Lighting Co Ltd, were expelled from the CPV. On September 4, the local government and Party suspended the eight officials from their posts at their companies and Party units for investigation into their violations of the Labor Code and abuse of wages to pay themselves exorbitant salaries, from VND716 million per year (for the chief accountant at Saigon Traffic Works One-Member Co Ltd) to VND2.6 billion ($123,600) per year (for the director at HCMC Urban Drainage Company Limited). Commenting on the huge salaries paid to top officials at the four city-based companies, HCMC People’s Committee chairman Le Hoang Quan said, “Frankly speaking, the biggest offense committed by them is abusing the wage fund of laborers to make themselves rich.” The city leader made the comment at a meeting held on August 29 to discuss the socio-economic performance and budget activities in August and plans for next month. “This wrongdoing must be strictly punished. It is not acceptable that they simply return to the wage fund these amounts that they have received illegitimately,” Quan said.
Wrongdoings These official’s wrongdoings were exposed in a conclusion released by deputy chairman Le Manh Ha in late August. Accordingly, the HCMC Public Lighting Co Ltd only abused its wage fund to pay a high salary to its key officials, while the other three have seriously violated the Labor Code, according to the city People's Committee.
Specifically, they signed contracts with a term of under three months with people who were qualified as regular workers, and signed contracts with definite terms with people who were qualified for indefinite contracts. Such wrongdoings have affected the rights and interests of 1,079 laborers, including 518 at HCMC Urban Drainage Co Ltd; 214 at Saigon Traffic Works Co Ltd, and 347 at HCMC Green Tree and Park Co Ltd.
All workers affected by violations related to the wage funds at these companies must be reimbursed satisfactorily, for example compensation in the form of social insurance and other benefits, city deputy chairman Le Manh Ha said. According to investigations, the total amount of money that has been spent wrongly and has to be recovered from the three companies amounts to VND7.454 billion ($351,600), including VND3.2 billion from the HCMC Urban Drainage Co Ltd; VND2.5 billion from HCMC Public Lighting Co Ltd, VND1.2 billion from HCMC Green Tree and Park Co Ltd, and VND554 million must be recovered from Saigon Traffic Works Co Ltd. As of September 4, a total of VND3.554 billion has been recovered from three of the four companies, and this process is ongoing.
List of the eight disciplined officials: At HCMC Urban Drainage Co Ltd: - Nguyen Trong Luyen, chairman of the Board of Management - Le Thanh Son, director At HCMC Public Lighting Co Ltd: - Tran Trong Hue, chairman of the Board of Management - Tran Minh Hung, director At Saigon Traffic Works Co Ltd: - Nguyen Nhat Tan, chairman of the Board of Management - Pham Van Vinh, director At HCMC Green Tree and Park Co Ltd: - Pham Van Hieu, chairman of the Board of Management - Tran Thien Ha, director |