Many officials were suspended from work to serve the investigation of the cases.

Continuing the 48th session, on the morning of September 14, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave its opinion on the work of preventing and combating corruption in 2020. The Government said that with the continuous efforts since the beginning of the 12th Party Congress term, the work of preventing and combating corruption in 2020 continued to make strong progress, corruption was controlled, gradually prevented and tended to decrease.

According to the 2018 Law on Anti-Corruption, the first declaration of assets must be completed before December 31, 2019, but the Government's Decree detailing the control of assets and income has not been issued.Therefore, the declaration of assets and income according to the new law has not been implemented.

Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung and Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Tran Vinh Tuyen were temporarily suspended from work.

However, the declaration of assets and income related to key personnel serving Party Congresses at all levels has been carried out seriously in accordance with Directive No. 35 of the Politburo on Party Congresses at all levels towards the 13th National Congress of the Party.

Regarding handling responsibilities, during the reporting period, there were 81 cases where leaders were concluded to be irresponsible for corruption; 62 people were disciplined; of which 12 people were criminally prosecuted for allowing corruption to occur in the agencies, organizations, and units under their management and responsibility.

Regarding corruption handling, the investigation agencies in the People's Public Security have investigated 508 cases, 1,186 defendants for corruption crimes; of which 286 new cases, 606 defendants were prosecuted, causing damage of over 9,000 billion VND and 45,503.5 million VND.² land; recovered over 10,000 billion VND.

Regarding cases under the supervision and direction of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption, as of July 31, 2020, local agencies have organized the enforcement of 58 cases under the supervision and direction of the Steering Committee. Of these, 15 cases have been completed and 43 cases are being organized.

The Government assessed that, together with the results achieved since the beginning of the 12th Congress term, it can be affirmed that the work of preventing and combating corruption has not only not "stagnated" or "slowed down" but has continued to be maintained, strongly affirming the determination to fight corruption with "no forbidden areas, no exceptions", which has been supported and highly appreciated by cadres, party members, people, and international public opinion.

The Government predicts that corruption is gradually being controlled and tends to decrease, although it is still complicated, occurring in many areas and becoming more sophisticated, especially the situation of "petty corruption", harassment, causing trouble for people and businesses in solving work for personal gain.

In that situation, in 2021, the Government will continue to improve the prevention mechanism, ensuring that "corruption is impossible" according to the requirements of the Steering Committee. At the same time, it will strengthen inspection, examination and auditing of areas with high risks and public opinion on negativity and corruption such as: large investment projects; land management and use; equitization, divestment, restructuring of state-owned enterprises; purchase and transfer of public assets; large procurement projects from state assets...

The Government requests the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuracy, the State Audit, and prosecution agencies to continue to focus on recovering corrupt assets, misappropriated assets, and discovered losses; and resolutely prevent corruption from occurring in law enforcement agencies.

Regarding the handling of responsibilities of leaders, during the reporting period, there were 81 cases where leaders were concluded to be irresponsible for corruption; 62 people were disciplined (an increase of 66.1% compared to 2019); of which 12 people were criminally prosecuted for allowing corruption to occur in the agencies, organizations and units under their management and responsibility.

The Government said that all levels and sectors focus on implementing the provisions of the Law on Anti-Corruption on temporary suspension from work and temporary transfer to another position in cases requiring suspension in accordance with regulations and Decree 59 of the Government.

Many officials have been temporarily suspended in time to serve the investigation of cases, including officials under the management of the Politburo and the Secretariat, such as Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Tran Vinh Tuyen...