Changing the model to make the fight against corruption more effective

(Baonghean) - After the conclusion of the 5th Central Conference (11th tenure), the Central Executive Committee issued a notice of conclusion on 4 issues: summarizing, amending and supplementing the 1992 Constitution; land law and policy; anti-corruption and waste prevention work; and finally, the issue of social policy and salary until 2020.

At the 5th Central Conference (11th tenure), in addition to assessing the results of 5 years of implementing the Law on Anti-Corruption (PCTN), which has had some positive changes, the Central Executive Committee also frankly admitted that the work of fighting against corruption has not yet met the requirements. Therefore, the Politburo and the Central Executive Committee, through discussion, came to two decisions: establishing the Central Steering Committee on PCTN under the Politburo with the General Secretary as the Head; re-establishing the Central Internal Affairs Committee to perform the functions of a Party committee and at the same time be the standing body of the Central Steering Committee on PCTN; not establishing provincial and municipal Steering Committees on PCTN; provincial and municipal Party Committees directly leading the work of PCTN...

With the above conclusion, basically, the task of fighting corruption and waste will not change much (even be strengthened), but the responsibility will be transferred from the government (Prime Minister, Chairman of People's Committees at all levels as Head of the Steering Committee) to the Party agency (General Secretary and Secretary of Provincial and Municipal Party Committees).

This initially also caused certain concerns that when the Party agency directly fights corruption, is it making excuses or doing it on behalf of the authorities? However, as the role stipulated in the Constitution, the Party directly and comprehensively leads society. Regarding anti-corruption work, the Party does not do it on behalf of the Party, but will directly lead and the implementation of the task will be carried out by a specialized force with the authority and capacity to carry it out.

It can be said that when the information was raised, many people wondered whether with these changes, the work of anti-corruption would continue and how would our Party's determination in the fight against corruption and waste be during this time? On this occasion, we had a discussion with some members of the Provincial Steering Committee for Anti-corruption and learned that: First of all, it must be affirmed that the Party's determination in the fight against corruption has not changed. However, in order for the work of anti-corruption to be more effective, there must be changes in the organization method. The change is aimed at organizing this work more systematically and seriously, in accordance with Resolution 4 of the Central Committee, of which Resolution 5 of the Central Committee (11th term) is the next step.

The reason for changing the model of the standing agency of the Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption is because, through the actual implementation of the Law on Anti-Corruption as well as exchanges and discussions, delegates all realized that assigning the task of Head of the Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption to the Prime Minister (at the Central level) or the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee (at the provincial level) besides advantages, there are also some limitations and instability in terms of mechanism, that is, when the state management agencies are the agencies that hold resources on assets, projects, finance... which are prone to negative corruption but are given the right to inspect and investigate anti-corruption. This leads to the situation of "both playing football and blowing the whistle" which has somewhat reduced the independence and transparency in the fight against anti-corruption.

The second reason for the change is that the model of establishing Steering Committees for Anti-Corruption at all levels, after a period of implementation, has not been able to play the desired role. The Office of Steering Committees for Anti-Corruption at all levels only plays the role of a standing agency to synthesize and urge corruption and waste cases; it does not have the authority and capacity to conduct investigations and prosecutions. The investigation, prosecution and trial of corruption and waste crimes are carried out by the prosecution agency.

At the provincial level, the question is, with the above changes in organizational model, how will the task of fighting corruption be carried out in the future? Through research, we know that: The requirements and tasks in corruption prevention will not change and will continue to be strengthened. After the announcement of the conclusion of the 5th Central Conference, the Politburo will soon decide to establish the Central Steering Committee for Corruption Prevention with more specific regulations on composition and operating mechanism. Next, according to the Politburo's guidance, the provincial and municipal Party Committees, directly led by the Secretary, will lead the rearrangement of the model, tasks and composition of the specialized agency for corruption prevention along with the re-establishment of the Internal Affairs Committee under the provincial Party Committee.

The representative of the Provincial Steering Committee Office on Anti-Corruption said: Based on the conclusions of Resolution 5 of the Central Committee, in the coming time, along with the promulgation of regulations to transform the organizational model from the central to the grassroots level, the task of fighting against corruption will continue to be strengthened; even with new points such as the spirit of Resolutions 4 and 5 of the Central Committee (11th term) stated, the masses and the press will have an increasingly greater role in the fight against corruption.

Nguyen Hai