Corruption used to be hundreds of billions, now it's tens of thousands of billions!

“In the past, there were only a few hundred billions like La Thi Kim Oanh, now there are thousands of billions, tens of thousands of billions. Meanwhile, the legal tools to fight corruption are not adequate. To be exact, there is no shortage, but we do not have the political determination of those in authority, so we cannot prevent and fight corruption,” Lieutenant General Tran Van Do frankly said.

At the review meeting on the draft Law on Anti-Corruption (amended) held by the Ministry of Justice yesterday afternoon, August 12, Lieutenant General Tran Van Do - former Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, Chief Justice of the Central Military Court (Ministry of National Defense) - commented that civil servants often find ways to commit corruption because their salaries are not enough to live on.

“In the past, there were only a few hundred billions like La Thi Kim Oanh, now there are thousands of billions, tens of thousands of billions. Meanwhile, the legal tools to fight corruption are not adequate. To be exact, there is no shortage, but we do not have the political determination of those in authority, so we cannot prevent and fight corruption,” General Do frankly said.

Citing the fact that civil servants in Singapore do not need, do not want, and do not dare to be corrupt because of adequate policies and ethics, Mr. Do emphasized that the situation in Vietnam is the opposite. The draft law needs to add a provision that when there are signs of corruption, it must be immediately transferred to the investigation agency for management because the current handling only delays the crime.

According to the draft Law on Anti-Corruption (amended), the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee shall supervise the work of anti-corruption nationwide. If necessary, the National Assembly shall decide to establish a temporary committee to investigate serious and complicated corruption cases of public concern, as prescribed in Articles 88 and 89 of the Law on Organization of the National Assembly and at the proposal of the National Assembly Standing Committee.

“Keep threatening to punish but in the end, no one can be eliminated. This law should enhance “prevention” rather than “fighting” because other laws have enough basis for “fighting”. Proposing a regulation allowing the National Assembly to establish a temporary committee to investigate serious corruption cases is not strong enough, I think. Many years ago, I proposed that we should establish an independent Corruption Investigation Committee with enough authority to strictly handle corruption,” Mr. Do said.

Illustration photo.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tran Ngoc Duong - former Deputy Head of the National Assembly Office - frankly said: "After reading the draft Law on Anti-Corruption this time, I still feel doubtful about its feasibility. After the revised law, whether there will be any changes in the fight against corruption or not, I do not hope for any strong changes."

Mr. Duong analyzed that the contents of the draft law are spread out, the subjects are very wide, and there is too much work. “Too much work like this takes a lot of time, effort, and money. From declaration, inspection, posting, and then having to report to the National Assembly every year about the situation of anti-corruption,... Too much work. If we follow this law, the working hours of state agencies will be gone,” he said.

Emphasizing that the fight against corruption must be fierce and strict, Mr. Tran Ngoc Duong suggested that the draft law must focus on some subjects that are most susceptible to corruption and in the eyes of the people are often corrupt.

“In the current fight against corruption, detection is the weakest link. People see corruption very clearly, but how can we arouse and form a mechanism to detect corruption? I think the mechanism mentioned in the draft law is still normal like the old law. I doubt its feasibility,” Mr. Duong said frankly.

The spirit and content of the 2013 Constitution is to control state power, but the anti-corruption control mechanism in the draft law chaired by the Government Inspectorate is very vague.

“A control mechanism should be established for key figures in the state apparatus. I see that with the current collective leadership principle and collective process, people take advantage of the collective and take advantage of the process to commit corruption. So the case of Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh is also in accordance with the process, in general, but the people at the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the Minister decides everything. I understand that it is the same in the ministries and localities, the leaders decide everything. They take advantage of the collective process to carry out their personal wishes. As for the subordinates, they do not dare to speak up. I have not seen any mechanism to control the heads of the state apparatus. If it continues like this, it will continue,” Mr. Duong stated the reality.

Receiving comments, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh - Deputy Inspector General of the Government - said that the content of "prevention" and "anti-corruption" are integrated in this draft law, but the Government Inspectorate's viewpoint is mainly to prevent. "We base on the old law to build the new law. Currently, the draft law is still being widely consulted by the Government Inspectorate" - Mr. Thanh said.

The draft law proposes that every year, state agencies are responsible for preparing and publicizing reports on the situation of corruption and the work of preventing and combating corruption. The reporting and publicizing of reports are carried out as follows: The Government reports to the National Assembly on the situation of corruption and the work of preventing and combating corruption within its state management scope; the State Audit reports to the National Assembly on the situation of corruption and the work of preventing and combating corruption through state audit activities; the Supreme People's Procuracy reports to the National Assembly on the situation of corruption and the work of investigating, prosecuting and trying corruption crimes nationwide; People's Committees at all levels report to People's Councils at the same level on the situation of corruption and the work of preventing and combating corruption in the locality.

The National Assembly adopts the Annual Report on the situation of corruption and anti-corruption work nationwide, and organizes its public announcement on December 9 every year.

According to Dan Tri