National Assembly Chairman: Must point out places that are not doing a good job in fighting corruption

"63 provinces and cities, any place that has not done a good job in preventing corruption and crime must be pointed out."

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan emphasized at the meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee when discussing the report on anti-corruption work in 2017.

Why is corruption rarely detected in the province?

A very interesting observation of the Judicial Committee when examining the Government's report is that through surveys as well as the results of local inspection and supervision delegations of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption in recent times, it shows that the corruption acts discovered and handled are mainly minor cases at the commune and district levels or particularly serious corruption cases that have attracted public attention and are investigated by the Central Investigation Agency.

In general, at the provincial level, the detection and handling of corruption cases is very rare, while according to public opinion, the corruption situation in this area is still the most serious, especially in provinces with many large public investment projects, resource and mineral exploitation, and areas enjoying incentives from state budget capital...

Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Judiciary Committee Le Thi Nga: "There are signs of corruption being overlooked in provinces and cities"

“This is a big problem that has been going on for many years but has not been resolved. There are signs of corruption being overlooked in this area,” said Chairwoman of the Judicial Committee Le Thi Nga.

One of the reasons for the above situation is the internal “closure”, lack of determination, deference and avoidance of many provinces in developing their own programs and plans to implement inspection and examination work on anti-corruption. In some provinces, corruption is discovered mainly due to complaints or internal conflicts.

“The Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption, the Government Inspectorate, and the State Audit Office should pay attention to detecting, handling, and preventing corruption in these areas when developing annual work programs,” the Judicial Committee's review report emphasized.

Discussing the report, Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh also agreed that, in recent times, the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption and the Central Inspection Commission have done very well. Some even said that the Party is stronger in fighting corruption than the government. This is reflected in the fact that complicated cases with large losses of assets were all discovered and handled by the Central Inspection Commission, while cases discovered by the Government Inspectorate have not been discovered much.

According to Mr. Vu Hong Thanh, voters also reported many violations of the law by civil servants, especially in land use management, public investment, basic construction, budget finance, etc. Therefore, information on the rate of handling violations is needed to strengthen people's trust.

How many subjects are hiding abroad?

The Government report said that in 2017, the investigation agencies initiated 195 new cases with 393 defendants on corruption charges, an increase of 53 cases and 58 defendants compared to 2016. The People's Procuracy at all levels prosecuted 241 cases with 595 defendants, a decrease of 22 cases and 39 defendants compared to 2016. The court tried 194 cases at first instance with 441 defendants, an increase of 49 cases and 103 defendants compared to 2016.

However, the National Assembly's inspection agency determined that the work of handling denunciations, reports, prosecutions, investigations, prosecutions, and trials is not yet commensurate with the corruption situation; the rate of asset recovery in corruption cases is still low (reaching 11.7%; the rate of execution of judgments on assets in newly accepted corruption cases is about 20%).

It is worth noting that there are still corrupt criminals on the run, causing difficulties in investigation and handling, causing public outrage, such as the case of Vu Dinh Duy, who is wanted for the crime of Intentional Violation, which occurred at the Petrochemical and Fiber Joint Stock Company (PVTex).

Mr. Ha Ngoc Chien - Chairman of the Ethnic Council: "How many wanted criminals are hiding abroad?"

Citing data showing that there are currently over 11,000 wanted criminals in the community, Mr. Ha Ngoc Chien - Chairman of the Nationalities Council expressed concern about the potential risk of insecurity and disorder, which is the source of crime. This situation also does not demonstrate the principle of crime prevention that all types of crimes must be detected and strictly handled.

“How many people have escaped from prison, avoided investigation, prosecution, and trial? And how much does it increase every year? We suggest further analysis to clarify the reasons for the increase in the number of wanted fugitives. If possible, clarify the number of fugitives in the country and abroad,” said Mr. Ha Ngoc Chien.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan pointed out that the report said that among the causes of the limitations, local Party committees and authorities in some places have not done well, but did not give specific addresses.

“63 provinces and cities, any place that has not done a good job in preventing corruption and crime must be pointed out. All of this must be made public so that we can remind and criticize” – the National Assembly Chairman emphasized./.

According to VOV