Delivering a report on the handling of anti-corruption cases at a national conference on anti-corruption in Hanoi on June 25, Vuong said these people had face charges of economic rule violations and corruption.

The conference was chaired by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who is also head of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption, according to local media reports.

Notably, the number of cases found in 2017 rose by a staggering 49.6% from the year earlier. The situation showed no sign of abating in the first quarter of this year, with the number rising by 33% against the year-ago period, said the report.

Since the start of the 12th term of the Party Central Committee in early 2016, more than 490 Party cells and 35,000 Party members have faced disciplinary measures, with around 1,300 Party officials disciplined for corruption or intentional violations of regulations, the local media reported, citing data released at the conference.

Between late 2015 and late March this year, the Investigative Police Agency under the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) handled 35 high-profile cases, with 359 individuals involved.

Some of the most-watched cases involve Trinh Xuan Thanh, former chairman of PetroVietnam Construction Corporation (PVC); former leaders of the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PVN) in the oil giant’s lost investment of VND800 billion (US$35 million) in Ocean Commercial Bank (OceanBank); Tran Phuong Binh, former general director of DongA Bank; and property magnate Phan Van Anh Vu and other former leaders of Danang City.

The fact that these high-profile cases have been prosecuted has boosted the confidence of the public in the Party and the Government, according to Deputy Minister of Public Security Vuong.

Last year, investigative police recovered a total of around VND21.5 trillion (US$940 million) from graft cases, rising by a whopping 50% against 2016. Specifically, investigators recovered about VND10 trillion from the TrustBank case, VND1 trillion from the DongA Bank case, and another VND1 trillion from an extensive online gambling ring in Phu Tho Province.

Tran Quoc Vuong, permanent member of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat, said the recovery of assets from corruption cases is regarded as key to the handling of such major cases.

SGT