HCMC – The board members of Tan Thuan Industrial Promotion Company (IPC) approved the resignation of Pham Phu Quoc, a National Assembly deputy, after he admitted to acquiring Cypriot citizenship.
According to local media, Quoc submitted the resignation letter on September 3, seeking to step down from the post of general director of the company. The letter was then approved by all the members of the board of directors, board of management and board of controllers.
Earlier, Quoc signed a decision of August 26 assigning Phung Duc Tri, deputy general director of the company, to replace him in controlling IPC’s operations.
In the coming time, IPC will report the case to the HCMC administration, so that Quoc’s resignation and violations will be handled appropriately. The Department of Home Affairs will provide consultancy to the city’s leaders.
On August 24, Al Jazeera had reported that Cyprus’s passport scheme allows people who have invested at least US$2.5 million in the country to possess its passport, making individuals eligible to become EU citizens and travel and work freely across EU nations as well as enter 174 countries without a visa. Quoc’s name was mentioned among the list of foreigners who possess a Cypriot passport.
Quoc, 52, a native of the central province of Quang Tri, admitted the next day that he had acquired Cypriot citizenship in 2018, but it was due to his family’s petition, not him “buying” the nationality at US$2.5 million as reported by Qatar’s Al Jazeera.
Ha Phuoc Thang, chief of office of the city People’s Committee, said Quoc’s holding of the nationality in Cyprus without reporting it is an act that is deplorable, dishonest and disobeys the Party’s regulations.
