Đinh La Thăng


Đinh La Thăng was a former Minister of Transport, former Communist Party Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City, and former member of the Politburo. On 22 January 2018 he became the first top Party official in several decades to be tried and sentenced to prison for corruption.

Early life and political career

Đinh La Thăng was born in 1960 in Yên Bình Commune, Ý Yên District, Nam Định Province, and graduated from the University of Hanoi's School of Finance and Accounting. He was a member of the 10th and 11th Central Committees of the Communist Party of Vietnam, a member of the 12th Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and also a member of the National Assembly of Vietnam from the XIth through XIIIth sessions. Before becoming the Minister of Transport, he was the Chairman of the Board of PetroVietnam, the national oil and gas company; Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of Thừa Thiên–Huế Province ; and Chairman of Song Da Corporation.
When controversy erupted in May–June 2016 over the Americans' appointment of Bob Kerrey as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Fulbright University Vietnam, Đinh La Thăng was the only high-ranking Vietnamese official who publicly supported the selection of Kerrey.
Đinh La Thăng was relieved from his position in the Politburo on 7 May 2017 due to his violations of the law while Chairman of the Board of PetroVietnam, violations that led to embarrassing economic losses.
He was arrested on 8 December 2017 for investigation of his mismanagement of PetroVietnam, resulting in a loss of 800 billion VND from its investment in Oceanbank. On 22 January 2018 he was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
He has a daughter, Đinh Hương Ly, who worked for Morgan Stanley from 2006 to 2013.