Ministry of Justice responds to Nghe An voters' petition on increasing penalties for corruption crimes

Reply:

One of the guiding viewpoints in the process of building the 2015 Penal Code is to fully and comprehensively institutionalize the Party's policies and guidelines expressed in the documents of the 11th National Party Congress and Resolution No. 48-NQ./Central Committee of the Politburo on the strategy for building and perfecting the Vietnamese legal system until 2010, with orientations toward 2020; Resolution No. 49-NQ/Central Committee of the Politburo on Judicial Reform Strategy to 202020.

In particular, the policy is: "Prescribe more severe criminal liability for criminals who are persons with authority in law enforcement, and those who abuse their positions and powers to commit crimes."

The investigation agency issued a decision to prosecute three defendants, who were formerly officials of the Department of Planning and Investment and the Center for Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion, for corruption. Photo courtesy of Duc Vu

Thoroughly grasping the above viewpoint, the 2015 Penal Code has many amendments and supplements to the group of crimes related to positions in the direction of increasing the effectiveness of handling this group of crimes, specifically as follows:

- Supplementing the regulation that the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution and the statute of limitations for execution of judgment do not apply to the crime of embezzlement of property, falling under the cases specified in Clauses 3 and 4, Article 353 of the Code; the crime of bribery falling under the cases specified in Clauses 3 and 4, Article 354 of the Code.

Authorities of Nghe An province executed search warrants on the workplaces and residences of subjects involved in corruption. Photo: Duc Vu

- Amend and supplement the criminal composition; amend and supplement aggravating circumstances for a number of crimes such as bribery (Article 354); embezzlement (Article 353) in a way that ensures compliance with the reality and requirements of the Convention against Corruption of which Vietnam is a member.

- Regarding the penalties applied to crimes related to positions, the 2015 Penal Code is amended in the direction of increasing additional penalties. Accordingly, the Code stipulates an increase in fines for a number of crimes such as: Crime of abusing positions and powers to appropriate property (Article 355); Crime of taking advantage of positions and powers while performing official duties (Article 356)...; Additional penalties of confiscation of part or all of the property applied to the crime of abusing positions and powers to appropriate property (Article 355).

Particularly for the act of producing and trading counterfeit goods, the 2015 Penal Code has been amended and supplemented to meet the requirements of fighting and preventing this crime in the direction of::Specify the criminal elements and some aggravating circumstances to ensure the transparency of the law and coverage of criminal acts; prescribe criminal sanctions for commercial legal entities that commit the crime of manufacturing and trading in counterfeit goods; counterfeit goods are food, foodstuffs, food additives; counterfeit goods are medicines, disease prevention medicines and counterfeit goods are feed for livestock, fertilizers, veterinary medicines, pesticides, plant varieties, and animal breeds.

The Economic Crime Investigation Police Department urgently searched the residence of a fake paint trader. Photo: Duc Vu

At the same time, amend and supplement additional penalties applied to the group of acts of producing and trading in counterfeit goods in a more severe direction, such as increasing the minimum level of the additional penalty, which is a fine prescribed in Article 192 for the crime of producing and trading in counterfeit goods; increasing the fine prescribed in Clause 5, Article 193 for the crime of producing and trading in counterfeit goods such as food, foodstuffs, food additives... For the crime of producing and trading in counterfeit goods such as medicines and disease prevention drugs, the Penal Code stipulates that the highest penalty that can be applied to the offender is the death penalty.

However, to further enhance the effectiveness of the fight against and handling of crimes related to positions and crimes of manufacturing and trading in counterfeit goods, in the coming time, the Ministry of Justice will coordinate with relevant agencies to continue monitoring, summarizing, evaluating and researching, proposing to perfect the provisions of the Penal Code for these crimes.