VietNamNet Bridge – 451 state officials gave up presents worth nearly VND1.8 billion (around $70,000) in 2006-2011. Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that the above figure did not reflect the real situation.
The figure was released at a conference reviewing the five-year implementation of the Law on Anti-corruption this morning, March 7.

Deputy PM Phuc said that the number of state officials who gave up presents to relevant agencies was small and the statistic did not reflect the real situation.

“Taking advantage of holidays and our country’s good custom and habit to briber is popular. Raising difficulty to citizens and businesses does not reduce,” Phuc said.

According to the Central Steering Board of Anti-Corruption, anti-corruption inspections were carried out at 23,500 organizations in the 2006-2010 period. Violation was detected at 1,700 organizations. Serious violations related to land management were reported in Do Son town in Hai Phong city and Tam Dao district in Vinh Phuc province. Some senior officials were punished and prosecuted.

The Central Inspection Committee penalized or proposed to punish four members of the Central Party Committee, 17 secretaries and vice secretaries and members of party cells of provincial governments and two party secretaries and chairmen of state-owned economic groups.

During this period, inspectors also detected financial violations worth around $2.6 billion.

Le Ha