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Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung will be suspended from official duties for 90 day. Photo: VNA

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed the decision on the suspension on August 11, which takes into effect5 immediately.

The same day, the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam decided to suspend Chung from the title as Deputy Secretary of the municipal Party Committee, VNS reported.

Chung, 53, born in the northern Hai Duong Province, has a doctorate degree in law and a bachelor’s in economics. He spent several years working at the social order-related crime investigation unit at Hanoi Police Department, VnExpress reported.

He climbed from deputy head to head of the unit before holding the positions of deputy director of Hanoi Police Department and heading its investigation agency.

In September 2012, as a major-general, he became director of the city police department.

In late 2015, he was appointed Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee to complete the 2011-2016 term after his predecessor Nguyen The Thao resigned.

In mid-2016, Chung was re-elected into the position for the 2016-2021 term.

Nguyen Duc Chung speaks at a meeting of the city steering committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on July 27. Photo: Vietnamnet

In his speech on taking office, Chung pledged to "act resolutely, creatively, closely with all grassroots (stakeholders) in the system, stay close to the people, devotedly serve the people, seriously listen to people's opinions and aspirations."

Under his stewardship, Hanoi has planted a million trees, renovated hundreds of polluted lakes and executed projects to revive some heavily polluted waterways, including the renowned To Lich River that has been reduced to a stinking sewage canal.

Other highlights of his tenure include Hanoi successfully striking a deal to host the nation's first Formula 1 race, which has been slated for November this year after months of delay due to the pandemic; and expansion of the pedestrian-only zone around the iconic Sword Lake.

Chung also made critical calls to help Hanoi control the COVID-19 outbreak, bringing the city out of the being a locality that led the nation in number of infections and keeping it clean of new community transmissions for 105 straight days.

However, Hanoi still has many issues left unresolved, some that have worsened, including air pollution, urban flooding, traffic jams, renovation of old apartment buildings and complicated land disputes, with a notable one being the case in Dong Tam Commune of My Duc District that led to the deaths of two civilians and three police officers last January.

Chung faces the three-month suspension amidst Hanoi and other localities nationwide engaging in the new combat against the pandemic./.

On July 22, Nguyen Hoang Trung, who is Chung’s chauffeur, Nguyen Anh Ngoc, deputy head of the editorial secretariat agency under the Office of the Hanoi People’s Committee, and Pham Quang Dung, an official in the anti-corruption police department under the Ministry of Public Security were detained to clarify their role in the case regarding the appropriation of state secret documents in line with Article 337 of the 2015 Criminal Code. Nguyen Anh Ngoc, Nguyen Hoang Trung and Pham Quang Dung were detained to clarify their role in the case regarding the appropriation of state secret documents in line with Article 337 of the 2015 Criminal Code. Photo: Thanhtra According to the Ministry of Public Security, they allegedly got involved in the theft of secret documents in relation to Hanoi tech giant Nhat Cuong Technical Services Trading Co. Ltd. Police conducted raids on the homes and working places of Trung, Ngoc and Dung on July 13, three days before the legal proceedings against the case were launched. A total of 28 people, including several Hanoi officials, face charges in the case. Nhat Cuong's General Director Bui Quang Huy, who is wanted by police, is accused of leading an organized crime group responsible for cross-border smuggling and maintaining two sets of accounting books to conceal trillions of dong worth of revenues.

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