Nearly 900 civil servants returned gifts

Over the past 10 years, the authorities have verified 4,859 cases of unclear asset declarations, but only discovered and disciplined 17 people who declared assets dishonestly. From 2006 to 2015, 879 officials and civil servants returned gifts with a total value of 3.3 billion VND, and only 10 violations were discovered and handled.

Through monitoring the implementation of regulations on returning gifts, the Government Inspectorate assessed that "it is still a formality, there are no regulations on sanctions, and it is not feasible". The implementation of this regulation is not strict, has low efficiency, and in reality, it is also very difficult to control because it depends a lot on the self-awareness and ethics of officials and civil servants. From 2006 to 2015, 879 officials and civil servants returned gifts with a total value of 3.3 billion VND and only 10 violations were detected and handled.

During the above period, nationwide, 918 leaders and deputy leaders were disciplined for lack of responsibility for corruption, of which 118 cases were criminally prosecuted and 800 cases were disciplined.

“Handling the responsibility of leaders when corruption occurs according to regulations has had the effect of enhancing the responsibility of leaders, and at the same time has a certain deterrent effect, but in reality the number of leaders handled is still small compared to the number of corruption cases discovered and handled; some major cases have not yet assigned responsibility and handled the responsibility of leaders” - the Government Inspectorate commented.

Illustration: Ngoc Diep

3 proposals to handle dishonestly declared assets

Experience from many countries around the world shows that in order to be transparent and effectively control the assets and income of people in positions of power, it is necessary to focus on asset management and control of income and expenditure throughout society.

While the mechanism for asset management and auditing of income and expenditure of the whole society has not been established, some countries have applied different methods of recovering corrupt assets such as criminalizing the act of illicit enrichment and criminally recovering assets and illegible income (currently, 45 countries and territories have criminalized the act of “illicit enrichment” and confiscated according to criminal procedures for “significantly increased assets without reasonable explanation”) or civilly recovering corrupt assets…

The proposal of solutions for asset recovery in Vietnam must thoroughly grasp the policies and guidelines of the Party and State and be based on the principles of the rule of law, ensuring the rights of citizens and property ownership of individuals and organizations as stipulated in the Constitution and laws. The goal is to improve the effectiveness of recovering corrupt assets but must fully respect the principles of the rule of law state and respect the property rights of citizens.

From that analysis, the Government Inspectorate proposed three options for handling assets with signs of ambiguity.

Option 1: Handling of assets and income declared dishonestly and not reasonably explained in the direction that, through verification results, if it is concluded that the actual assets and income of the person obliged to declare are greater than the declared assets and income, the agency or unit controlling assets and income is responsible for requesting the tax authority to consider, handle and collect taxes if the person obliged to declare can reasonably explain the origin of the difference in assets and income; or initiate a civil lawsuit at a competent court to rule on the ownership of the difference in assets and income if the origin of the additional assets and income cannot be reasonably explained.

Option 2: Asset recovery must be through a legally effective judgment of a competent Court on the corrupt act of the person declaring assets and income (corruption crime) and the recovered assets are assets originating from corrupt acts.

Option 3: Assets and income declared dishonestly and not explained reasonably must be recovered immediately without going through a judgment (without having to go through a civil lawsuit).

According to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, a significant increase in the assets and income of a public official compared to the legal income of the public official without a reasonable explanation of the reason for the increase is considered an act of illegal enrichment and will be handled. However, the inspection agency believes that the solution to recover assets in Vietnam must thoroughly grasp the policies and guidelines of the Party and State and be based on the principles of the rule of law, ensuring the rights of citizens and the rights of property ownership of individuals and organizations as stipulated in the Constitution and laws.

According to Dan Tri