The Ministry of Justice responded to the petition of Nghe An voters on increasing the penalty 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 a vision to 2020; Resolution No. 49-NQ/Central Committee of the Politburo on Judicial Reform Strategy to 202020.

In particular, the policy is: "Prescribe stricter criminal responsibility for criminals who are persons with authority in law enforcement, and those who take advantage of their positions and powers to commit crimes."

The investigation agency has issued a decision to prosecute three defendants, former 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 implementing 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 provisions of Clause 3 and Clause 4, Article 353 of the Code; the crime of bribery falling under the provisions of Clause 3 and Clause 4, Article 354 of the Code.

Nghe An province authorities executed a search warrant on the workplace and residence of corrupt individuals. Photo: Duc Vu

- Amending and supplementing the criminal composition; amending and supplementing 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 position and power to appropriate property (Article 355); Crime of taking advantage of position and power while performing official duties (Article 356)...; Additional penalty of confiscation of part or all of the property applied to the crime of abusing position and power 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 handling 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 additional penalties, which is the 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, researching and proposing to perfect the provisions of the Penal Code on these crimes.