Vietnam rejects rumor of death of anti-corruption leader Nguyen Ba Thanh
Nguyen Ba Thanh, Chief of the Central Internal Affairs Commission of Vietnam and deputy head of the central anti-corruption committee, is still being treated for myelodysplastic syndrome in the U.S., a Vietnamese health agency has confirmed.
The confirmation was made by the Board for Protection and Care of Health of Central-Level Officials, which said the board’s head, Nguyen Quoc Trieu, and another member of the board, have taken a three-day trip to the U.S. to visit Thanh at a private hospital.
The board rejected a rumor that Thanh has passed away or has been sent back to the central city of Da Nang.
Thanh is currently also deputy head of the Central Steering Committee for Anti-corruption, led by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
How long Thanh’s treatment will take and whether he will be sent back to Vietnam will be decided by the doctors who are treating Thanh, the board said.
Tran Tho, secretary of the Da Nang City Party Committee, also rejected the rumor that Thanh has died in the U.S.
After he fell sick in August 2014, the Party Central Committee agreed for Thanh, who is a former secretary of the Da Nang City Party Committee, to be treated in the U.S.
On August 16, Thanh’s relatives took him to a private hospital in the U.S. for treatment.
Thanh has since kept in contact with his office in Vietnam to direct its functions.
However, a source told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that “all contact with Thanh’s relatives in the U.S has failed over the past several days.”
This contact failure may have triggered the above rumor, the source said.
Nguyen Ba Thanh, 61, was born in Hoa Vang District, Da Nang.
He is also the former director of the Quang Nam-Da Nang Agriculture Department and the former Chairman of the Da Nang Municipal People’s Committee.
Thanh is credited with transforming Da Nang from a poor area into the most beautiful city in Vietnam.
