In the old days, when I was in "South" Vietnam, the communists from "North" Vietnam were self-righteous nationalists waging war against the corrupted, decadent forces of the South. They would do anything to win, but surely, in pursuit of their socialist ideals and their belief in an egalitarian system, they were not likely to cheat and steal, at least on a massive scale.
In nearly 50 years since their epic victory over the Saigon regime, things have changed. Now, scores of bankers and government officials face charges of corruption under the guidance of a 66-year-old woman, Truong My Lan, whose company made off with $12.5 billion from the country's biggest bank. Looking quite attractive in a white silk blouse, close to tears, she's on trial for her life in Saigon along with her husband, a Hong Kong Chinese billionaire named Eric Chu. It's not the simple fact that she's accused of embezzling from a bank that she controlled through a network of front companies that's so shocking. It's the enormity of the scam, comparable almost to the case of Bernard Madoff, the late New York financier who died in prison three years ago still owing billions of dollars from phony stock schemes.
The phenomenon of corruption on such a scale should not come as a total shock to Koreans, accustomed to periodic scandals in which many of the high and mighty of the largest chaebol have done time in prison in almost like a rite of passage. It comes as no surprise quite often to see these same ex-convicts on international missions, often in the company of Korea's top leaders.
For that matter, we read regularly of charges against the leaders of other countries in the region — Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and others — having enriched themselves to a degree that's beyond the imaginations of mere mortals accustomed to working for a fairly honest living. Some of them wind up in jail, and others merely get overthrown and tossed into the dustbin of history.
The Vietnam case, though, is a little different. Lan is a member of the Saigon elite, the get-rich-quick crowd that's arisen since those dark days when the conquerors from the North were throwing everyone in prison who seemed remotely linked to the South's fallen leaders. A lot of the former Saigon elite, the ones who lived off American largesse, got out before the downfall of their regime, but thousands more were flung into prison, shipped to reeducation camps, suffering — and quite often dying.
Now, it's a different story. Free enterprise in Vietnam is fine, and payoffs and bribes, embezzlement and fraud are fine, too, as long as no one questions who's the boss. Focus on business and bow before the leaders in Hanoi, and you'll be OK.
We may be sure that Lan and her husband did not attempt to defy the regime. The suspicion is that they weren't paying off all the right people to ensure the survival of their racket. Another suspicion is that the folks in Hanoi just didn't like to see Saigon entrepreneurs gaining so much power. We may be seeing shades of the old North-South struggle in which the country's Communist Party leaders have to assert their authority over upstarts in the South who have carried their rackets a few steps too far. While condoning rampant capitalism, Vietnam remains a communist country in which the party reigns supreme.
It would be a mistake, though, to compare the Vietnam case with that of North Korea. The comparison breaks down at once on the fact that Vietnam was reunited by force after long wars against the French colonialists and then the Americans, whereas the Korean Peninsula remains as divided as ever. The phenomenon of corruption pervades North Korea, where the regime and surrounding elite rake in the perquisites of the good life at the expense of the long-suffering masses. In South Korea, we read about periodic corruption cases among politicians and tycoons but also have the sense of a vital, thriving economy competing on a global scale.
In Vietnam, it seems, you cannot conduct daily business, consummate a deal or survive commercially without paying someone off. The country's a far happier place than it was as I knew it during the Vietnam War, and it's great to see a nation at peace. You have to wonder, though, how long the peace will endure while the country runs on corruption — and one conniving businesswoman is sacrificed as an example to intimidate others to fall into line behind the Vietnamese Communist Party rule.
Donald Kirk (www.donaldkirk.com) covers war and peace in Asia mainly from Saigon and Washington.
Corruption under communism
36
0
14.03.2024
In the old days, when I was in "South" Vietnam, the communists from "North" Vietnam were self-righteous nationalists waging war against the corrupted, decadent forces of the South. They would do anything to win, but surely, in pursuit of their socialist ideals and their belief in an egalitarian system, they were not likely to cheat and steal, at least on a massive scale.
In nearly 50 years since their epic victory over the Saigon regime, things have changed. Now, scores of bankers and government officials face charges of corruption under the guidance of a 66-year-old woman, Truong My Lan, whose company made off with $12.5 billion from the country's biggest bank. Looking quite attractive in a white silk blouse, close to tears, she's on trial for her life in Saigon along with her husband, a Hong Kong Chinese billionaire named Eric Chu. It's not the simple fact that she's accused of embezzling from a bank that she controlled through a network of front companies that's so shocking. It's the enormity of the scam, comparable almost to the case of Bernard Madoff, the late New York financier who died in prison three years ago still owing........
© The Korea Times
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Rami G Khouri
Mort Laitner
Donald Low
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
