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WORLD NEWS A11
Thursday 7 April 2016

Vietnam prime minister steps Argentine businessman Lazaro Baez, center, is escorted by police after being arrested as part
down after ten years in office of an investigation into alleged money laundering, at an airport on the outskirts of Buenos Aires,
Argentina, late Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Baez, who got large public works contracts during the
YVES DAM VAN Kirchner and Fernandez administrations, is accused of embezzling and laundering millions. He
Associated Press denies any wrongdoing.
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam’s prime minister
stepped down Wednesday after 10 years in office, (AP Photo/Agustin Marcarian)
leaving behind a mixed legacy of promoting failed
state enterprises but at the same time attracting for- Argentina shocked by money-laundering case
eign investment and daring to challenge China.
In a formal vote, 430 of 462 members of the rubber- P. PRENGAMAN Argentine judges have of cash at a company be-
stamp National Assembly voted to remove Nguyen V. CAIVANO wide leeway to hold sus- ing investigated.
Tan Dung, three months before the end of his term, Associated Press pects during an investiga- For many Argentines, the
the government said on its website. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina tion, particularly if they are allegations surrounding
Dung’s departure was a mere formality after he lost a (AP) — A businessman with deemed a flight risk. Baez underscore the kind
leadership battle during the ruling Communist Party’s close ties to former Argen- A message left at Casanel- of endemic corruption that
congress in January. Dung lost to Nguyen Phu Trong, tine President Cristina Fer- lo’s office was not returned. has long plagued the South
who was re-elected party general secretary for a sec- nandez refused to testify The person who answered American nation.
ond five-year term. The National Assembly is sched- Wednesday in a money- the phone at the law firm Argentina ranked 107 out of
uled to appoint Dung’s deputy, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, laundering probe being representing Baez declined 167 on Transparency Inter-
as prime minister on Thursday. In Vietnam, the Com- closely watched as a test comment. national’s annual corrup-
munist Party general secretary, the prime minister and of the new administration’s Baez received large pub- tion index last year, worse
the president form the triumvirate of power. promise to crack down on lic works contracts during than other Latin American
Dung was easily the most high-profile prime minis- corruption. the administrations of Fer- countries with long histories
ter Vietnam ever had. He was charismatic, a good Lazaro Baez was escorted nandez and her late hus- of graft, such as Mexico,
orator and mixed easily with foreign leaders, which by police into a Buenos Ai- band and predecessor as Brazil and Bolivia.
raised the country’s profile. But within the party he res court. However, he re- president, Nestor Kirchner. Fernandez, whose second
was blamed for the failures of huge state-owned en- fused to testify and instead Baez is accused of embez- term ended in December,
terprises including the monumental collapse of the handed a letter to Judge zling and laundering about has long been dogged by
Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group and Vietnam Sebastian Casanello, the $5 million. He denies any allegations related to Baez.
Shipping Lines. Many of the state owned enterprises official Argentine news wrongdoing. Her family owns several top
ended up with mountains of public debt. agency Telam said. Prosecutors starting looking hotels in the southern prov-
“Over the course of his tenure, Dung distinguished A top court official, speak- into Baez after a 2013 jour- ince of Santa Cruz. Accord-
himself as a highly public and entrepreneurial leader, ing on the condition of an- nalistic investigation said he ing to local news reports,
even as the substance of his policy initiatives drew onymity, confirmed to The was Kirchner’s figurehead the hotels are often empty
criticisms from both conservative and reform ele- Associated Press that Baez in an elaborate scheme. and thus incapable of gen-
ments within the party,” Jonathan London, a Vietnam refused to answer questions The news report charged erating the kind of income
expert at the City University of Hong Kong, said in an and said the suspect would that Baez used companies they report.
email interview. Also, Dung’s closeness with numer- be returned to custody until to launder money for the Prosecutors have said they
ous newly and unusually wealthy Vietnamese raised his legal situation could be former presidents. Recent are looking into the finan-
suspicions among many. “Be that as it may, during sorted out. images aired on local TV cial transactions at Kirchner
Dung’s tenure, Vietnam continued to grow and draw It wasn’t immediately clear showed one of Baez’s sons family hotels.q
large-scale foreign investment, defying regional and what would happen next. and others counting wads
global trends,” said London. Dung’s position as an
experienced leader will be hard to fill. “Dung’s suc-
cessor, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who comes to the office
with considerable less punching power, is a study
in contrast with Dung,” said London. “In essence,
none among Vietnam’s current leaders will fill Dung’s
shoes.” Dung took office in 2006, during the global fi-
nancial crises, followed by a global economic slow-
down that severely impacted Vietnam, which at the
time — and even today — largely depends on foreign
investment and trade for economic growth.
Le Hong Hiep, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s Institute
of Southeast Asian Studies, noted that his plan to cre-
ate giant state-backed conglomerates may have
been well-intentioned, but it was poorly executed. In-
stead of selecting and promoting strong and efficient
private companies, he decided to promote ineffi-
cient and corruption-laden state-owned enterprises,
he said.q