'This guy fights corruption, that guy backs it, don't know who's real, who's fake'

National Assembly delegate Vu Trong Kim bitterly commented at the meeting of the National Assembly's Judicial Committee this morning (September 6), when continuing to examine the Government's report on anti-corruption in 2017.

Mr. Vu Trong Kim speaks at the meeting of the National Assembly's Judicial Committee on the morning of September 6. Photo: Le Kien

Mr. Vu Trong Kim, member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, said that the Government's report on anti-corruption work in 2017 did not meet requirements.

According to him, the figures on asset declaration (more than 1.1 million people) and the 99% rate of declaration do not mean much.

"What the National Assembly and voters need to update in the report are the trillion-dollar cases, problematic BOT projects, and problematic officials that have been dealt with... If the furnace is hot and no firewood is added, the furnace will go out," said Mr. Kim.

Once holding the position of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, Mr. Vo Trong Kim commented: "Corruption is rampant, people can count district officials, commune officials, even ordinary civil servants can count the number of corrupt people, but too few are punished."

Mr. Kim also emphasized: "This guy fights corruption, that guy backs it, we don't know which one is fighting for real, which one is fighting for fake. I suggest to soon organize specialized units to fight corruption effectively. Currently there are too many delays and stagnation. Why does it take a whole year to resolve a case?"

Delegate Nguyen Thai Hoc, head of the Internal Affairs Committee of Phu Yen province, also commented that "the content of the Government's report has not kept pace with the spirit of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption, nor has it met people's expectations on Anti-Corruption".

According to Mr. Hoc, the Government's assessment and evaluation of the anti-corruption situation is not accurate, the causes are general, and the solutions are not groundbreaking. The Government assessed that the corruption situation in 2017 decreased, but the data shows that the number of prosecutions in 2017 increased compared to the previous year.

"The report says that there is a group of corrupt officials and civil servants, so where is that group, in which agency or unit? Making such general statements every year is not wrong, but it has no effect," said Mr. Nguyen Thai Hoc.

"The report also stated that the performance of some anti-corruption agencies is not high. So which agency is it specifically, the police or the prosecutor's office?"

Every case has seen the story of taking money to this place and that place.

Deputy Minister of Public Security, Senior Lieutenant General Le Quy Vuong, stated that the fight against corruption achieved many positive results in 2017. However, looking back at the criminal cases under investigation such as Trinh Xuan Thanh and Ha Van Tham, it can be seen that they all happened many years ago.

"The major criminal cases under investigation only deal with the consequences. It is also the result of many shortcomings in the management work at that time, such as the establishment of economic groups with many business lines, and the operations of banks having many problems," said Mr. Le Quy Vuong.

According to the general, an important issue in anti-corruption is the openness and transparency in the activities of agencies and organizations. If implemented well, it will greatly reduce negativity and corruption. However, the effectiveness of this has not been high in the past.

"For example, looking at PVC's violations, the case we are investigating, we see that activities such as bidding and contractor appointment are problematic. Or banking activities, lending is very easy, the Oceanbank case under trial shows a huge loophole in management," said Mr. Le Quy Vuong.

"We also want to talk about the issue of group interests. In all cases, there are stories of them taking a lot of money and dividing it here and there."

The Deputy Minister of Public Security also once again emphasized the need to amend regulations on forensic examination, one of the reasons why the investigation and handling of cases has been slow in recent times, typically the Pham Cong Danh case.

In addition to banking and bad debt, Mr. Vuong said that PCTN needs to pay attention to land management and BOT projects...

According to Tuoi Tre