More than 123,000 inspections on corruption have been conducted in 2015, with about VND212trillion (US$9.57 billion) seized by investigators.

The State has recovered 70 per cent of misappropriated monies. This shows the innovation in planning, administration, management, and promoting responsibilities and qualities of inspectors, said Chief Government Inspector Huynh Phong Tranh during an interview on a VTV show People ask, Ministers answer on Sunday.

He praised Ha Noi and HCM City for carrying out many inspections.

During the first nine months of the year, the Ha Noi Inspectorate has transferred seven cases where crimes were suspected to functional authorities for further investigation while the figure in HCM City is four cases.

Tranh said that there should be thorough and practical efforts made to tackle corruption.

Regarding Viet Nam's implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption and tasks on corruption prevention and fight, Tranh said that Viet Nam had achieved positive results.

Viet Nam's Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index jumped from 25 out of 100 points in 2001 to 31 points in 2014. The score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). In 2001, Viet Nam ranked 75 out of 91 countries. In 2014, it ranked 119th out of 174 countries.

Viet Nam has been reviewing the ten-year implementation of the Law on Anti-Corruption to launch thorough law reforms.

The Government and local authorities regularly publish activities and policies at forums and National Assembly meetings for citizens to supervise.

Viet Nam's responsibility on explanation was highly assessed by the Transparency International. Vietnamese Government and State agencies at all levels regularly explain issues that media and public are concerned about, Tranh said.

Tranh said that the Government Inspectorate would co-operate with ministries and sectors to handle prolonged complaints and denunciations in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region, in the central and Central Highlands regions and in the North.

VNS