PARTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE SETS SIGHTS ON CORRUPTION,

C O N F I D E N T I A L HANOI 002143 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/23/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR VM SUBJECT: PARTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE SETS SIGHTS ON CORRUPTION, SEEKS STRONGER ROLE FOR ITSELF REF: A. HANOI 771 ¶B. HANOI 943 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: DCM Jon M. Aloisi per 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary and Comment: The Party's Central Committee met for its third Plenum from July 24 to 27, and, among other tasks, approved new Party working regulations and pledged to tackle corruption (job number one for the Party since its April Congress). According to our contacts, the new working regulations are aimed at increasing both the Central Committee's role in the policymaking process and its access to information. The efforts to strengthen the Central Committee, at the expense of the powerful Politburo, will likely be superficial at best. End Summary and Comment. ¶2. (SBU) The Communist Party of Vietnam's (CPV) Central Committee met for its third Plenum from July 24 to 27 and approved new working regulations for the Central Committee, the Politburo and the Party Secretariat. The Central Committee also adopted a resolution on enhancing the Party's leadership in combating and preventing corruption and wastefulness, issued regulations on Party members' private business activities and discussed several other matters concerning personnel and the disciplining of cadres. ¶3. (SBU) The new working regulations attempt to make clearer the functions, tasks and rights of the Central Committee, the Politburo and the Secretariat, with the aim of highlighting the Party's "collective leadership" while promoting the role and responsibility of each individual in the Party system, and granting more power to sub-Party committees and organizations. ¶4. (SBU) To implement the 10th Party Congress' resolution on wiping out corruption and waste, the Central Committee also discussed and issued a resolution on "intensifying the Party's leadership" in this area. The (still unpublished) resolution specifies short- and long-term solutions to prevent and ward off corruption and wasteful spending. ¶5. (C) According to Nguyen Chi Dzung, Deputy Director of the Office of the National Assembly, the discussions on the new working regulations were driven by the desire of Central Committee members to have more power delegated to them and to have greater access to information. This issue came to a head when members of the previous Central Committee were kept out of the loop by the Politburo when it came to certain scandals and incidents involving high-ranking Party officials. During the final Central Committee meetings prior to April's Party Congress, Central Committee members were told only that the cases in question had been reviewed by the Politburo, and that no further action would be taken, Dzung noted. ¶6. (C) Historian Ngo Van Hoa, a close confidante of several Central Committee members, added that the new working regulations were designed to respond to Party members' desire for "more democracy and openness" in the CPV's decision-making process. Although Party statutes hold that the Central Committee is the senior Party body between Party Congresses, in fact the Politburo often bypasses the Central Committee, particularly when it comes to emerging critical issues, Hoa said. The Party will not publicize the new working regulations, the National Assembly's Dzung told us. ¶7. (C) Comment: Since the PMU-18 scandal broke on the eve of April's Party Congress (Ref A),both the CPV and the GVN have gone to great lengths, both substantively and symbolically, to show the public that they are serious about rolling back corruption and increasing transparency. However, while a "more open and democratic Party" was one of the Congress' hot phrases (Ref B),it is unclear how much success the Central Committee will have in increasing its influence and strengthening its role vis-a-vis the powerful Politburo. Any shift in the balance of power will more likely than not be superficial, with the Politburo still ultimately calling the shots. End Comment. MARINE