No holds barred in combating corruption

Speaking at a meeting with voters in Hanoi last week, Party leader and President Nguyen Phu Trong said corruption is one of voters’ gravest concerns. Mr. Trong said that the entire leadership has gotten involved in the war on corruption and resources and experience are the key factors in this effort. He reiterated that the fight against corruption needs tireless effort and strong determination. Mr. Trong said: “With strong political will and determination, we can succeed. There are lot of things to do but we have to do it step by step and make sure that every step is successful. All corruption cases must be dealt with appropriately in accordance with law to gain the people’s trust. What we have done has been supported by the public and provided valuable lessons.”

Institutions fine-tuned

The 2018 revisions to the Law on Anti-Corruption concern control of the assets and incomes of people holding certain positions. For the first time, Vietnam has an independent agency in charge of this matter. Under the law, the Government Inspectorate will monitor the property and income of directors of departments and officials of similar ranking and those with higher positions in cities, provinces and ministries. Officials at lower levels will be monitored by local and ministry inspectors.

The law also gives more authority to property and income monitoring agencies and asks the Treasury Department, credit organizations, State Bank, police, tax department, and land management agency to provide information to the monitoring agencies.

The scale of monitoring has been expanded under the new law requiring all state employees to explain and declare the origins of their property and income.

Concerning the reclamation of corruptly acquired property, Ms Vo Thi Nhu Hoa of the Da Nang city National Assembly delegation said: “The reclamation of corruptly acquired property is a compulsory and indispensable task in the fight against corruption. It contributes to the prevention of corruption.”

The government and the National Assembly have issued several decrees to empower the fight against corruption. These decrees will be adjusted to conform to the newly-approved revised Anti-Corruption Law.