This recommendation was officially ratified by the mid-term Party Plenum in January 1994. In the Vietnamese communist system, when a party member is assigned to a higher position, the relevant Party-command reinvestigates the personal history of the candidate back to three generations. For any position on the Central Committee, the candidate must also prepare his own report. This report is submitted to the Central Internal Political Protection Bureau for further investigation before that body presents its recommendation to the Central Committee. The fact that Phan had moved up to the Central Committee in 1986 and climbed all the way to the Politburo and the Presidium in 1994, proved repeatedly that the party had no illusions nor misunderstandings of Phan's political and personal history.
All signs indicate a setup from within the party itself.
Phan was seen by colleagues as bright, clever, and articulate but also extreme. He served as the main force in the dismissal of Politburo-member Tran Xuan Bach from the party when Bach called for democracy in the party at the Central Committee meeting in March 1990. Van Kiet's plan to separate the government from the party's direct involvement. As a result, the drafting of all political reports for the Congress and of party directions to province and city Party-commands to select delegates for the Congress were in Dao Duy Tung's complete control. This arrogant behavior of the party camp, especially of Tung and Phan, and the approaching deadline of the Party Congress forced the government camp to retaliate with the release of Phan's history.