'Officers who make false declarations are no longer worthy of their positions'

According to Mr. Vu Quoc Hung, if an official has made a false declaration, he or she is no longer worthy of his or her job position and the qualifications of a party member or official.

In response to the public uproar over the massive “mansions” worth tens of billions of dong, many officials spoke up, explaining that the assets were obtained from raising pigs, raising chickens, selling brooms, etc. Mr. Vu Quoc Hung - former Deputy Head of the Central Inspection Committee discussed this content.

"The rich pretend to be rich"

PV:What do you think about the explanation of some officials when they own "huge" assets, mansions worth tens of billions of dong?

Mr. Vu Quoc Hung - former Deputy Head of the Central Inspection Commission.

Mr. Vu Quoc Hung:The explanation that there is a large source of income, with an amount as high as the path of raising livestock and selling brooms, while the output of these items in Vietnam is facing many difficulties, makes the public, including me, find it hard to believe.

Those officials should explain and make public how they got such a large amount of money.

PV:What do you think about the fact that incumbent officials such as the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Yen Bai province and Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Ho Thi Kim Thoa... are owning assets worth tens of billions of dong?

Mr. Vu Quoc Hung:This is unusual and difficult to understand. Why do Party and State officials have such a large amount of money to build magnificent and majestic mansions? While the country and the people around them are still facing many difficulties, and assuming their money is genuine, no one with a conscience would act in such a “noble-minded” manner.

PV:Sir, why is it that every year we supplement the declaration of assets and income of officials, but there is still a situation of dishonest declaration, even among high-ranking officials?

Mr. Vu Quoc Hung:We have regulations on asset declaration, but those regulations are not complete, and declarants do not know how to declare. Because for those with large assets, they can use sophisticated tricks to declare in many different ways. What if they declare incorrectly?

Therefore, in the future, in addition to the responsibility of officials and public servants to declare their assets, it is necessary to require them to also declare the assets of their relatives. This is a necessary measure. Another important thing is to conduct strict inspection and supervision.

Recently, the Politburo issued regulations on inspection and supervision of asset declaration for cadres under the management of the Politburo and the Secretariat. There are about 1,000 cadres under this category. The subjects of inspection for these subjects are the Politburo, the Secretariat and the Central Inspection Committee. The subjects of supervision are the Politburo, the Secretariat, the Central Inspection Committee and the Party cells where these cadres are active.

Now the method of declaration must be clarified. Those who inspect and supervise must be impartial, not biased or evasive, and must have methods and ways to detect those who declare dishonestly.

One of the effective ways to check and monitor declarations is to ask people, and at the same time, to make them publicly known..The people here must be specific and not general.

The declarations of those civil servants and leaders should also be posted at their offices and places of residence, and even published in the press. If we can do that, it will be more strict and the results of asset inspections will be better.

The mechanism of controlling the assets of officials has problems.

PV:How do you evaluate the role of the government and leaders at all levels when there are many cases of officials and their relatives owning "golden land" and "huge" villas, but no one in the local system sees anything unusual, while most of the cases of dishonest asset declarations are discovered by the press and public opinion?

Mr. Vu Quoc Hung:The authorities, the leadership, as well as the heads of those agencies were not proactive, but were mainly discovered by the masses and the press. That shows the weakness of the apparatus.

We have quite complete guidelines, policies, and regulations, the problem now is to put them into operation. If you are a Party member or an official at all levels, the Party organization must monitor and act very strictly, and proactively detect them.

The lessons learned by the Inspection Committees at all levels are to be proactive, combative, educational, and effective. Therefore, to do one's job well, one must be proactive, not passive, waiting for petitions to be delivered to one's hands.

With their methods and tasks, inspectors must go deep into the masses, cadres, and party members to see if there are any problems with the subjects, organizations, and individuals subject to inspection and supervision. They must proactively detect and examine the nature of the problem so that the conclusion can be reasonable and emotional.

Many scandals about the assets of officials with signs of abnormality that have been reported by public opinion and the press in recent times have once again shown that the mechanism for controlling the assets and income of officials is problematic. To overcome this problem, there needs to be strict regulations and continuous improvement. On that basis, the leaders of Party committees and authorities must pay attention to this issue.

If the government and local and unit leaders cannot control the activities and behaviors of their officials, they are not fulfilling their responsibilities. Anyone who allows corruption to occur in their agencies or units or shows signs of personal gain should be replaced and they themselves should also withdraw from their positions.

PV:There is an opinion that before being appointed, officials must verify their assets, considering it a condition for promotion and appointment. Officials must be considered in the direction that if they are dishonest in declaring their assets, they will not be eligible for promotion and appointment. What is your opinion?

Mr. Vu Quoc Hung:I agree with this proposal. Because the most important quality for cadres and party members is honesty. If they have made false declarations, they are no longer worthy of their job position and the qualifications of a party member or cadre. Therefore, the above proposal is very reasonable.

In some countries in the world, when their officials and leaders make mistakes or shortcomings, they are condemned by public opinion and are often dismissed or they themselves resign. Moreover, how can a greedy and dishonest official continue to be in charge of any field?

PV:Asset declaration is an annual task for officials and civil servants, but public opinion does not believe in that declaration. In your opinion, how can we change the way of declaring assets which is considered a mere formality?

Mr. Vu Quoc Hung: Because for so long we have been doing it superficially and formally. After declaring and putting it in a cabinet, no one knows how the official declared it. So now we must make public and post the asset declaration in the agency, even where the person lives. If the official is completely transparent, he will not be afraid of people's supervision.

Leaders of all countries declare their assets when they take office. This does not mean that we should apply it mechanically, but we should also study the experiences of foreign countries.

In addition, an extremely important principle is to rely on the people, promote democracy; be transparent, even ask people to evaluate officials... At the same time, there must be effective inspection and supervision measures, especially on asset movements, then I believe the asset declaration issue will achieve better results.

PV:Thank you sir./.

According to VOV