Improving the effectiveness of corruption prevention at its root.
In the province, many preventive measures have been implemented, yielding positive results and contributing to curbing, preventing, and gradually eliminating corruption.
Many cases have been discovered and dealt with.
According to reports from relevant authorities, since the Law on Prevention and Combat of Corruption of 2018 officially came into effect (July 1, 2019), the province has discovered 10 cases of corruption through inspections. In addition, 12 cases of corruption were discovered through the handling of complaints and denunciations. Investigation agencies at all levels in the province have also handled 92 cases involving 316 defendants; 82 cases involving 278 defendants related to corruption have been handled by the procuratorates at two levels; and 100 cases involving 386 defendants related to corruption cases have been handled by the people's courts at all levels.
Among these, there are prominent cases that have caused public outrage, such as the case involving the Hotel, Supermarket, and Pharmaceutical and Medical Business Complex Project in Nghi Phu (Vinh City) invested by Minh Khang Co., Ltd., which was verified by the inspection agency as having violations since 2021.
After the inspection agency transferred the case file to the police investigation agency and initiated criminal proceedings, on September 28, 2023, the People's Court of Nghe An province sentenced Nguyen Dinh Khang - Head of the Minh Khang Urban Area Project Management Board - to 20 years in prison for "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and 12 years in prison for "Abuse of trust to appropriate property," with a total sentence of 30 years; and Nguyen Thi Thu - Director of Minh Khang Company - to 12 years in prison for "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and 8 years in prison for "Abuse of trust to appropriate property," with a total sentence of 20 years. The two defendants were also ordered to jointly compensate the victims for the principal and interest.
Both defendants filed appeals claiming innocence and requesting a review of the verdict. However, at the appellate hearing held on March 19-20, 2024, the High People's Court rejected the appeals, partially amended the first-instance judgment regarding the calculation of interest, and upheld the original verdict against defendants Nguyen Dinh Khang and Nguyen Thi Thu.
In addition, there is the case related to the Truong Son residential cluster project in Cua Nam ward (Vinh City), invested by Tien Luc Joint Stock Company, which was found by the inspection agency to have violations in the process of managing and using land, allocating land, and deducting compensation for land clearance from the land use fee payable by recording revenue and expenditure incorrectly, causing a loss of more than 7.7 billion VND to the State.
Recently, in 2024, the inspection agency transferred two cases to the police investigation agency. These included violations in the management of revenue and expenditure of non-state budget funds at Na Ngoi Ethnic Boarding Primary and Secondary School during the 2020-2021 and 2023-2024 school years. In June 2024, the Ky Son District Police Investigation Agency initiated criminal proceedings and indicted Pham Manh Hung, the former principal, and Truong Xuan Cuong, the school's accountant, for embezzlement and abuse of power while performing their duties.
In addition, there were violations in the revenue and expenditure management at the Nghe An Dermatology Hospital. Specifically, after receiving complaints from citizens regarding numerous irregularities at the Nghe An Dermatology Hospital, the Department of Health established an investigation team and concluded that the hospital had committed many violations.For example: fabricating employment contracts for 7 nurses, inflating revenue, examination, and treatment figures, starting construction before winning the bid, collecting money from patients without performing tests, etc.
According to the provincial police report, the total amount of money and assets involved in corruption discovered reached over 92.7 billion VND; more than 62.6 billion VND of corrupt assets have been recovered.
Improving the effectiveness of anti-corruption efforts.
The fight against corruption has received attention from the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People's Council, and the Provincial People's Committee. Specifically, over the past five years, the entire province has issued 1,243 documents to concretize and lead the implementation of the Law on Prevention and Combat of Corruption and other documents from the Central Government and the Provincial Party Committee on preventing and combating corruption, waste, and negative practices.
However, some anti-corruption measures have not been truly effective. Specifically, the direction and guidance on corruption prevention in businesses, organizations, and the non-state sector have not received adequate attention. Current efforts to rotate job positions and declare assets and income have not yielded practical results. No corruption cases have been detected through internal self-inspection. The handling of accountability for leaders does not accurately reflect the reality. Some officials and civil servants lack self-discipline and training, exploiting loopholes in management, mechanisms, and policies, and abusing their assigned duties for corruption and personal gain.
According to assessments, the situation regarding corruption and negative practices is expected to remain complex. The development of the market economy will impact some officials and civil servants who lack self-cultivation and training, exploiting their knowledge of the law in their assigned areas and taking advantage of legal loopholes to engage in corrupt practices and self-serving behavior for personal gain or group interests, thereby affecting the reputation of the state apparatus.
In particular, petty corruption is becoming increasingly prevalent in agencies and units, causing public outrage and resentment, and is concentrated in several sensitive areas such as: investment and construction, land management, trade, finance, public procurement, banking, and healthcare…
To enhance the effectiveness of anti-corruption efforts, on April 3, 2024, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 809/QD-UBND establishing a Task Force to evaluate anti-corruption work, consisting of 25 members, with the Chief Inspector of the province as the head. On May 2, 2024, the Provincial People's Committee also issued Document No. 3436/UBND-NC on institutionalizing the Party's guidelines and policies on preventing and combating corruption and negative practices into law.
At the conference summarizing the five-year implementation of the Law on Prevention and Combat of Corruption on December 24th, the Provincial People's Committee determined that it will continue to implement comprehensive and effective solutions to prevent corruption, especially regulations on transparency and openness; build a team of officials with sufficient qualities, capabilities, and prestige to meet the requirements of the tasks in the new situation. It will conduct asset and income control according to regulations, focusing on verifying the assets and income of those holding positions of power and authority... In particular, it will tighten administrative discipline and order; promptly detect, prevent, and strictly handle acts of harassment, negativity, and causing difficulties and inconvenience to citizens and businesses when transacting with State agencies...
