Vietnam appoints To Lam, man behind corruption crackdown, as new president

Vietnam’s public security minister has been appointed as the country’s next president, months after his predecessor stepped down as part of an anti-corruption crackdown.

The National Assembly elected General To Lam as president on Wednesday, following his nomination by the ruling Communist party over the weekend, according to state media reports. 66-year-old Lam has been public security minister since 2016 and has taken a hard line on human rights movements in the country.

This appointment represents the latest shuffle in Vietnam’s top leadership, a nation historically noted for its political stability under the strict control of the Communist Party. However, a years-long anti-corruption crackdown has caused unprecedented political upheaval, coinciding with Vietnam’s rise as an alternative international manufacturing hub to China.

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The crackdown, spearheaded by party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, has led to the resignation of two presidents since January 2023 and the arrest of hundreds of government officials. In April, real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced to death for her involvement in a $12 billion fraud.

Tran Thanh Man, 61, was also nominated as the new head of Vietnam’s National Assembly, state media said, becoming one of Vietnam’s four most powerful leaders, Al Jazeera reported.

Man succeeds Vuong Dinh Hue, who asked to step down last month because of “violations and shortcomings.”

The nominations have been accepted by the party’s central committee but will be officially voted in by the National Assembly, which is due to meet next week.

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All top leadership “must be truly united, truly exemplary, wholehearted and devoted to the common cause”, the central committee said, Al Jazeera reported. In April, a court in Vietnam sentenced a property tycoon to death for her role in a USD 12.5 billion financial fraud case, the country’s largest on record.

Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery and violations of banking rules at the end of a trial in Ho Chi Minh City.

With inputs from agencies.