VietNamNet Bridge – Arguing that the number of detected corruption cases is modest, Deputy Nguyen Ba Thuyen from Lam Dong suggested setting up an independent investigative body on corruption.
The National Assembly (NA) on October 26 considered a report on fighting corruption and crime. Deputy Pham Xuan Thuong from Thai Binh province said that in 2011 up to 211,000 organizations and individuals were detected to commit to corruption, with a total sum of VND6.6 trillion ($314.3 million). Around VND1.3 trillion ($61.9 million) must be reclaimed but only VND143 billion ($6.8 million) has been revoked. Notably, these cases were discovered by only the government’s inspection body. Thuong added that the government should be careful as saying that corruption-related crime reduces.

“Only 17 corruption cases, with 43 defendants, are investigated by police. Obviously, loss caused by corruption is huge but the number of cases under criminal investigation is very small. We do not know of the 17 cases under criminal investigation, how many cases go on trial. We think that anti-corruption is not yet implemented seriously,” Thuong said.

Deputy Gianh Thi Binh from Lao Cai province said that there are many serious corruption cases, meaning that anti-corruption task is still limited. “Some corruption cases are solved slowly or judged gently which affect people’s trust,” Binh said.

Deputy Nguyen Van Hien from Ba Ria-Vung Tau said last year more than 200 corruption cases and 500 defendants went on trial. However, over 340 defendants were judged with ultimate penalty of up to 3 years in jail and 200 enjoyed probation. This fact shows that these were small corruption cases. Hien added that trial process of some corruption cases prolonged abnormally in order to relief defendants’ criminal acts.

Deputy Nguyen Ba Thuyen from Lam Dong said that only 4-5 corruption cases are discovered in each province and this number does not reflect the fact.

“Why corruption is rampant but we only detect a small number of corruption cases? Is it owning to our mechanisms, policies or poor expertise of inspection bodies? I propose to amend the Law on Anti-corruption,” Thuyen said.

This deputy also proposed to set up a corruption investigating committee, which is independent from investigative body. “The mission of this central committee is to arrest officials who commit corruption.”

Deputy Do Manh Hung from Thai Nguyen worried that the model of steering boards for combating corruption at the central and provincial levels, led by the Prime Minister and provincial chairs, may operate ineffectively because this organization has the function of both “a referee and a football player.”

Hung added that anti-corruption task is not very effective and does not mobilize people’s participation because anti-corruption education in society is poor and the mechanism to protect corruption fighters is not powerful enough.

VNE/VNN