Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh has requested an investigation into how the son of former minister Vu Huy Hoang was appointed to key positions in major firms owned by the ministry.

Industry and Trade Minister Vu Huy Hoang

Former Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang has been questioned for promoting his son Vu Quang Hai for being Deputy Director of Saigon Beer, Alcohol and Beverage Joint Stock Corporation (SABECO) despite Petrovietnam Finance Investment JSC (PVFI) racking up losses of VND220 billion (USD10 million) between 2011 and 2012 under Vu Quang Hai.

Current industry and trade minister Tran Tuan Anh has requested ministry personnel departments and agencies to review the entire appointment process.

The minister also asked PetroVietnam to re-check the documents related to the assignment of Hai as general director of PVFI. SABECO has also been asked to also review Hai’s appointment as deputy director.

A from the Vietnam Association of Financial Investors (VAFI) said that Hai couldn’t be appointed as deputy director of SABECO as he was legally liable for the massive losses accumulated during his time at PVFI.

The association has also urged Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh to dismiss Hai from his current position at the firm.

Speaking to DTiNews, Hai said that he couldn’t be responsible for the huge losses at PVFI because they were accumulated from previous years. He claimed he had tried to reduce the firm’s losses.

Regarding to his position at SABECO, Hai said that the corporation had headhunted him and proposed his employment to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to fill a vacancy, not because he was given the priority because of being the son of the minister.

Former SABECO chairman Phan Dang Tuat who sent the proposal to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, asking for Hai’s appointment claimed that it was totally legal.

At that time almost all the firm’s leaders were going to retire. So he needed to choose young and supposedly qualified people who had studied abroad and were good at foreign languages.