Despite resolute handling, corruption crimes are still increasing, why?

The work of preventing and combating corruption and economic crimes was one of the issues that many delegates were interested in during the discussion session on September 15 of the National Assembly Standing Committee. Some delegates asked, “In the past, we have resolutely dealt with this type of crime, but why are the number of cases and the number of criminals still showing no signs of decreasing?”

According to the Government report, corruption crimes are still increasing and becoming more complicated. In 2022, 637 cases were handled with 1,366 defendants for corruption crimes, an increase of 107 cases and 311 defendants compared to the same period last year.

Why is it still increasing despite being determined to handle it?

Mr. Hoang Thanh Tung - Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee suggested that the Government should assess more deeply the reasons why we are determined to handle and handle very strongly but this type of crime is still increasing. This is due to loopholes in legal regulations, the organization of law enforcement or the awareness of officials leading to disregard for the law. There needs to be a deep analysis and assessment to have orientation and solutions to overcome in the coming time.

Chairman of the Law Committee Hoang Thanh Tung.

Mr. Hoang Thanh Tung also pointed out that in the fields of securities, bidding, and asset auctions, especially in asset auctions, there are illegal acts such as: price appraisal, bid appraisal, collusion in dividing bid packages to designate bidders, using "blue and red teams" to manipulate winning bid prices, and round-robin trading to increase prices many times.

“These are very typical acts that have occurred in a series of cases, especially related to land and land auctions for land use rights in recent times. In addition, we also request a report to clarify the reasons why in recent times many large and dangerous corruption and economic cases have been handled very resolutely and strictly, with a very high deterrent effect, but this type of crime has not shown any signs of decreasing but has increased relatively high. Especially cases such as the case of Viet A Joint Stock Company, the case of the Consular Department, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the FLC Group, so we request a deeper analysis and effective solutions to control and repel this type of crime” - the Chairman of the Law Committee of the National Assembly emphasized.

Promoting solutions to prevent corruption

Regarding the solution, Mr. Hoang Thanh Tung said that the work of propaganda, dissemination and legal education in the field of anti-corruption law must take into account the very specific subjects of this type of crime.

“The violators here are mainly officials, civil servants, and public employees with positions and powers, so in reality, the awareness of these subjects is not low. Therefore, the work of propagating, disseminating, and educating about this law needs to be invested in appropriate forms to make it substantial and effective, avoiding the same propaganda and dissemination as for the general public, which is not appropriate” - Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee stated.

In addition, Mr. Tung also suggested strengthening the application of information technology and implementing the work of publicizing information, especially information on regimes and policies on land use planning, urban planning, etc. to limit opportunities that people do not fully understand, leading to the situation of having to "do this and that" to solve their problems. Not having a firm grasp of legal regulations is also a risk leading to an increase in corrupt acts, especially petty corruption.

Second, regarding the implementation of corruption prevention measures, the Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee suggested actively implementing early and remote preventive measures against this type of crime so that it can be prevented from the beginning, without having to wait until the act occurs before we deal with it.

In addition, the leader of the Law Committee also requested that the Government report clarify the handling measures for the violations mentioned in the report, specifically 98 cases of agencies, organizations and units violating the publicity and transparency of organization and operation; 283 cases, 386 people violating the implementation of norms, standards and regimes; 74 cases of assets declaration but incorrect declaration; 19 leaders lacking responsibility for corruption. The report lists very complete information and data but it is not clear how it was handled, this needs to be supplemented.

The representative of the Law Committee suggested that the report emphasize more on the role and responsibility of specialized agencies in charge of preventing and fighting corruption, and of officials and civil servants performing anti-corruption tasks because this is an extremely important force and it is necessary to prevent and fight corruption in the very agencies responsible for preventing and fighting corruption./.