Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung assigned Nguyen Ngoc Su, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, as chairman of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group as of October 9.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung assigned Nguyen Ngoc Su, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), as chairman of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) as of October 9.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong

Previously, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong temporarily assumed this position at Vinashin.

So far, two high-ranking officials from PetroVietnam have become Vinashin’s top officials. Last week Truong Van Tuyen, 60, PetroVietnam’s former general director and the head of the Dung Quat oil refinery, took over as Vinashin general director from acting chief Nguyen Quoc Anh.

Nguyen Quoc Anh had taken over from Tran Quang Vu on August 30 after the latter was suspended and then arrested on charges of mismanaging state assets while serving as the head of a Vinashin subsidiary in the early 2000s.

Vu himself had only been appointed on July 1 in place of Vinashin’s founding director Pham Thanh Binh who had been arrested on similar charges.

A government audit had found that the company had debts of US$4.5 billion. Police have so far arrested six Vinashin officials, including the two former chief executives.

According to the government’s plan to rescue Vinashin, some Vinashin’s projects and debts will be handed over to PetroVietnam and the Vietnam Shipping Lines Corporation (Vinalines).

PV