The Hanoi People’s Court has just issued a decision declaring the Ocean Shipping One Member Limited Liability Company (Vinashinlines) bankrupt from May 5, 2025. It is considered the end of the life of a spoiled child from the wrong policy of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s time.
Vinashin is considered a state-owned corporation born by Nguyen Tan Dung. On May 15, 2006, when he became Prime Minister, he signed Decision No. 103/2006/QD-TTg approving the Pilot Project to form an economic corporation with multiple ownerships, in which the State owns the dominant ownership, including the reorganization of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin) – a company with huge capital, up to $4 billion at that time and the Vietnam National Shipping Lines Corporation (Vinalines).
After that, both Vinalines and Vinashin were deeply in debt and were facing bankruptcy. PM Dung should let Vinashin and Vinalines go bankrupt, but in 2010, he signed Decision 2108/QD-TTg approving the Vinashin Restructuring Project, according to which the “hybrid child” Vinashinlines was born.
After its establishment, Vinashinlines soon fell into a spiral of losses, leakages and financial scandals. In March 2014, Vinashinlines authorized a lawyer to file a petition to open bankruptcy proceedings at the Hanoi People’s Court.
In 2016, Dung left the political stage and left behind a dying child that no one could cure. When Nguyen Xuan Phuc came to power, he allowed this terrible legacy of Dung to be maintained. What is the reason?
Some people think that PM Phuc is a weak person and does not dare to touch the legacy of Dung. Although he has retired, Dung still makes his former subordinates fear him. Dung has retired, but the interest group behind Vinashinlines is still making money. Thanks to the “corpse” of Vinashinlines, the interest group behind it can absorb the emergency funds from the budget. Vinashinlines is maintained for that reason.
The Vinashinlines case increasingly shows its terrifying destruction. Unable to cover it up, in 2017, three former leaders of Vinashinlines were brought to trial for embezzlement. Among them, Tran Van Liem – former General Director, Giang Kim Dat – former head of the business department, were sentenced to death; Tran Van Khuong – former chief accountant received a life sentence.
These people brought to trial are said to not be the “final boss” as the case is similar to Phan Quoc Viet of Viet A, who was brought out as a “scapegoat” to save his master who was pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Now, when the interest group has had enough, officials are willing to “pull out the breathing tube” and disband it. Why should a business that only destroys and does not build anything for the economy be maintained for so long?
When he became the givernment leader, Dung established 19 state-owned corporations and groups, most of which did not contribute to the economy, if not to say that they were all destructive. Currently, many of his legacies are still maintained in the so-called State Capital Management Committee, a super committee that is protecting a series of state-owned enterprises that are rampant in Vietnam. These enterprises are seriously distorting the Vietnamese economy.
After a series of bad achievements during his time as Prime Minister, in early 2025, Dung was awarded the Gold Star Order by General Secretary To Lam – the most noble medal that this regime gives to an individual. The reason is said to be because To Lam wanted to honor his former boss with a title.
If it were a democratic state like South Korea, the appropriate place for a Prime Minister who ruined the economy like Dung would be a prison, not a noble medal.
The nature of a Communist state is like that, so the ambition to “rise up” or “stand shoulder to shoulder with the world’s great powers” is just a vain dream.
Thai Ha-Thoibao.de
