Proposal to seal assets of officials if they cannot explain

Mr. Bui Van Quang - Deputy Head of the Internal Affairs Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province made the above recommendations on solutions to deal with the unexplained assets of officials.

Overview of the workshop - Photo: TUYET MAI

On June 18, in Ho Chi Minh City, Deputy Inspector General of the Government Nguyen Van Thanh chaired a workshop to collect opinions on the draft law on anti-corruption (PCTN Law).

Not criminally prosecuted but still subject to PCTN law sanctions

Reviewing the work of anti-corruption over the past 10 years, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh - Deputy Head of the Legal Department of the Government Inspectorate said that the 2005 Anti-Corruption Law has many provisions that are no longer suitable for the current practice of anti-corruption, the level of sanctions in the law is not enough to deter, and it is necessary to develop a draft law to regulate this issue.

According to Mr. Tuan, the reasons leading to the above situation are that the regulations on transparency are not comprehensive and lack measures to ensure implementation.

Regulations on accountability are not appropriate; regulations on handling responsibilities of heads of agencies and organizations are not specific and clear; fluctuations in income are not controlled; there is no synchronization between the law on anti-corruption and other laws...

One of the new points of the draft Law on Anti-Corruption is the addition of regulations on corrupt behavior.

In addition to the 7 groups of corruption crimes stipulated in the Penal Code, the draft law on anti-corruption also stipulates 5 more groups of corrupt acts as follows:

- Bribery and bribery brokerage are carried out by people with positions and powers to handle work of agencies, organizations, units or localities;

- Taking advantage of position and power to illegally use assets; harassment for personal gain;

- Do not perform duties or public service for personal gain;

- Taking advantage of one's position and power to cover up for people who violate the law for personal gain, illegally obstructing or interfering in inspection, auditing, investigation, prosecution, trial, and execution of judgment.

Thus, there are acts that are not regulated by the Penal Code but are still regulated by the Law on Anti-Corruption.

Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh speaks at the conference - Photo: TUYET MAI

"Seal the assets of officials if they cannot explain"

That is the opinion of Mr. Bui Van Quang - Deputy Head of Internal Affairs Department of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province regarding the handling of unexplained assets.

According to Mr. Quang, if done well, asset declaration will be effective in limiting corruption. However, the current regulations on handling dishonestly declared assets are not really strict.

Mr. Quang proposed adding a regulation that when officials cannot explain discovered assets, there must be strong solutions such as sealing them and transferring them to the authorities to clarify the source.

“The recovery of corrupt assets is the weakest point in the fight against corruption today. Corrupt assets are worth over 60,000 billion VND, but only 5,000 billion VND has been recovered. When corruption is discovered, the authorities must promptly freeze accounts, seize assets to serve the investigation and recover losses,” said Mr. Quang.

At the same time, at the workshop, many delegates said that it is necessary to narrow down the subjects of asset declaration because currently the number of subjects declaring is too large to control all, only a number of suspicious subjects should be declared.

According to Tuoi Tre