Recovering corrupt assets: Don't let 'sacrificing the father's life to strengthen the son's life'

In recent years, our Party and State have paid great attention to directing many major criminal cases of corruption and economic crimes to be brought to trial, with the principle of “No exceptions, no forbidden zones”. Many officials under the management of the Politburo and Secretariat who were “involved” in corruption have had to face strict legal sentences.

However, the rate of recovery of assets lost or misappropriated due to corruption is still low, reaching over 30%. This is also one of the reasons why many people with positions, power and status are willing to "get dirty", willing to cross the line to get illegal money and determined: If discovered, they are willing to go to jail to keep their corrupt assets intact.

Speaking with VOV reporter, Mr. Pham The Duyet - former Standing Member, Standing Member of the Politburo, former Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front said that it is necessary to consider implementing the law retroactively, there cannot be a matter of dividing it to this person, that person now there is no basis for consideration.

PV:From your perspective, can you explain why asset recovery is so low?

Mr. Pham The Duyet:As for the low asset recovery, directly the defendants and criminals were dishonest in carrying out the conclusions of the declared case, only they fully understand everything.

The recovery of corrupt assets is not much, in my opinion we have to consider and think. "Thick orange peel has sharp nails", we have a whole political system led by the Party, have a judicial agency but we do not do anything to recover them. We appoint the wrong people, or elect them but let them degenerate and change without preventing them from committing crimes. When they commit crimes, it is only a manifestation of their actions, but in their minds they have the intention, to do whatever they want to profit from; wherever they can profit, they will find relatives, factions, and loopholes to "steal" from the State and the people.

How to manage? Where to hide, to whom, how to send abroad? Only the investigation agency and the judiciary agency have a deep understanding of this issue. Under the leadership of the Party, these agencies must fulfill their responsibilities.

PV:Corrupt subjects are always ready to respond, disperse assets, and even deliberately violate to "Sacrifice the father's life to strengthen the son's life". What is your comment on this reality?

Mr. Pham The Duyet:Corrupt subjects always think of “Sacrificing the father’s life to strengthen the son’s life”, but in our generation, that is difficult. In the market mechanism, corrupt subjects may think that if they go to jail, they will go, but their wives and children will definitely be happy. Through this, we can consider relevant regulations and laws, when necessary, with cases that have occurred, there are clear conclusions of corruption, the court has tried, it can be added to the implementation of retroactive laws, there cannot be a matter of dividing this person, that person now has no basis for consideration. Those who have received ill-gotten wealth are also very easy to prove.

As a person working in mass mobilization, I am interested in what people think. Uncle Ho said“A hundred times easier without people, you can endure/A thousand times harder, you can complete with people.”So have people had any opinions yet, from residential areas, agencies, relationships with the criminal, in my opinion, we have to clarify the responsibilities then the problem will be solved.

Strong body, healthy, disease can not easily penetrate

PV:The shortcomings and difficulties in recovering corrupt assets and the very low results in recovering corrupt assets are also issues that people are very concerned about and that bad elements take advantage of to distort our policies and guidelines?

Mr. Pham The Duyet:Having been responsible to the Party for the work of Party building and rectification in the 8th term, I think this matter needs to be viewed from two perspectives.

On the one hand, we see that our Party has made great contributions to the people. After more than 90 years of leadership, the people have great faith in the Party and always hope that the Party will always be strong and have enough prestige to take care of the people's and the country's affairs and maintain the regime. Even if bad people intentionally take advantage of and sabotage us, they are only a very small number, so we do not need to be afraid. Our people are revolutionary people, very good.

The second thing I think, regarding this matter, we need to think that we have had shortcomings for quite a long time, and have not been determined to do it. If we had continued to be determined, then certainly the problem might still exist but it would have been better.

Fortunately, the Resolution of the 4th Central Committee of the 11th tenure, then the 4th Central Committee of the 12th tenure, has re-awakened the trust of the people, party members, and cadres in the Party. I believe that only cadres with positions and power have the conditions to commit corruption, so the selection of cadres is a very important step.

Talking about Party building and rectification, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong once emphasized that if we do not persistently and resolutely fight corruption, negativity, bureaucracy, distance ourselves from the people and do not have a clear attitude towards this issue, it will be a challenge to the Party's leadership role and a challenge to the survival of the regime.

Reflecting on these things, I think we must be more determined in building and rectifying the Party and fighting against corruption and negativity. If we do so, we do not have to be afraid of bad elements. We are strong and healthy, and diseases cannot penetrate us. However, we also frankly point out that "a not small part" of cadres violate the law. If "that not small part" falls into a small number of leaders, it will be even more dangerous. This is an issue that is not pleasant to talk about, but we must frankly see it in order to resolutely overcome it.

Mr. Pham The Duyet: I completely agree with the viewpoint of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong that: The Party is not only concerned with handling cadres, but must create conditions to select the right cadres. That is the main thing. There are children who have to fend for themselves, earning only a few tens of thousands a day, but when they pick up tens or hundreds of millions, they still bring them back. So why does a State official have such a corrupt mindset? This is the point where the Party needs to take responsibility in selecting, building, and educating the cadre team. I think that is the root of the problem.

The second idea I welcome is that humanity is humane, but right and wrong must be clear, and the handling must be resolute. We do not handle the case in an extreme or one-sided manner, but we must determine the extent to which the case should be handled correctly, so that everyone is convinced, convinced, and believes, then it will be meaningful.

PV:On June 2, 2021, the Secretariat issued Directive 04-CT/TW on strengthening the Party's leadership in the recovery of lost and misappropriated assets in criminal cases of corruption and economic crimes. According to you, what should the authorities do to implement Directive 04, eradicate dishonest officials, and successfully recover embezzled and misappropriated assets?

Mr. Pham The Duyet:Anti-corruption is a battle of the entire political system, including the Party, the State and the people. I see that the Party's involvement has been relatively strong and determined. But that determination only stops at the upper level. If you look at the Party committees at the provincial, city or smaller levels such as district and commune levels, don't be quick to think that we have a movement.

There were soldiers who fought against the Americans, but there has been no mention of fighting against internal invaders. Who dares to say that my Party Committee has done a good job in this regard? My Party Committee discovered this problem without waiting for the Central Committee to intervene. What typical examples have been raised in the 5-year emulation summary conferences? Only when these questions are answered will we see the solidity of the fight against corruption. In addition, if we do a good job in recovering assets, the people will welcome it.

To choose good officials must rely on the people.

PV:Our Party has many regulations for selecting, training and screening cadres. So, in your opinion, what is the most important step?

Mr. Pham The Duyet:I am very interested in the human factor. Who built this cadre? Who trained it? Who nurtured, inspected, and controlled it? It was the Party. And the Party relies on the people, because the Party belongs to the people.

So we must do a good job with the staff here.

In 1947, when the resistance war against France began, President Ho Chi Minh wrote the book "Changing the way of working". In my opinion, just by absorbing and applying that book, a party member would have matured, become more steadfast, and overcome personal temptations.

Cadres must know how to criticize themselves, practice, improve their qualifications, correct their mistakes, and put themselves under the people's control. Cadres should not boast!

All of those things Uncle Ho taught very specifically.

Now we must quickly take care of the current cadres so that they do not make those mistakes again, and quickly build the next generation. A generation that is not indifferent to the revolutionary ideal. What the future generation will be like is something we cannot help but worry about from now on.

Specifically, I would like to emphasize the selection of cadres. To select good cadres, we must rely on the people. Because there is nothing the people do not know. Let's rely on that to improve and build people.

I have been responsible so I dare to say that for cadres who are wrongly promoted, appointed, or appointed, the leader must take responsibility. People are the most decisive factor. Any corruption that occurs from the organization of cadres and people is the root cause leading to other harmful corruption.

PV:Thank you!

In the case of Duong Chi Dung - former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vinalines and his accomplices, they had to pay 110 billion VND in compensation, but only over 21 billion VND was executed.

In the "major economic case" of Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu, the court sentenced the defendant to confiscate 9,000 billion VND, but through investigation and appraisal, only more than 500 billion VND was collected for the State.

In the economic case of Hua Thi Phan, the court ordered the seizure of assets, including the rights to use dozens of agricultural plots that Ms. Phan had mortgaged to appropriate money. However, more than 50 land use rights, estimated to be worth thousands of billions of VND, have now expired. According to the law, only when Ms. Phan completes the extension procedure, can the enforcement agency auction them to return the money to the State.

By the end of April this year, defendant Dinh La Thang had only paid 4.5 billion VND out of the total 630 billion VND that had to be executed in the two cases.

Defendant Trinh Xuan Thanh - former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Oil and Gas Construction Corporation has only completed 31 billion VND, the remaining 91 billion VND that must be paid has not been recovered.

The rate of asset recovery in corruption and economic cases is currently only over 30%, although it has tripled compared to 2013, it is still very low.