VietNamNet Bridge – In its reply to voters, the Ministry of Public Security said it would propose amendments to the Article 7 of the Press Law, in which the press is required to more widely supply information about the sources in order to improve the efficiency of the fight against corruption crime.

 

 

Given that the fight against corruption was not a good enough, the voters of the three provinces of Phu Yen, Lam Dong and Quang Ngai asked the the government to firmly handle corruption cases, especially the cases occurring in major state economic groups such as the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) and the Vietnam Shipping Lines Group (Vinalines) and the cases related to banking activities...

In a written reply, the Ministry of Public Security acknowledged that the fight against corruption is still very limited, failing to meet the expectations of the people. Corruption crime remains complicated, especially in the fields of finance, banking, capital construction, land management and in large corporations of the State, such as the cases of Vinashin, Vinalines...

To improve the efficiency of the fight against crimes of corruption, one of the solutions given by the Ministry of Public Security is making proposals to the amendments, supplement and perfect the system of law on the prevention of corruption.

Specifically, it is necessary to modify Article 7 of the Press Law as follows: "The Chief Judge of the People’s Committee, the chief of the People’s Procuracy and the heads of investigating agencies at all levels have the right to request the press to provide the sources of information published in the mass media."

The current Article 7 stipulates: "The media has the right and obligation not to disclose the name of those who provide information if it is harmful to them, unless being requested by the chief justice of the People’s Court or the chief of the People’s Procuracy of provincial level or higher needed for the investigation and adjudication of serious crimes."

This proposal was mentioned in 2012 in the draft Anti-Corruption Law: "The media, journalists reporting on corruption are responsible for providing information and documents as required of the competent authority to serve for verification and clarification of corruption." However, this proposal was rejected.

Source: VNE