Party General Secretary, President Nguyen Phu Trong chairs the 17th session of the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption on January 15. (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi(VNA) – The Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption held its 17th session on January 15 under the chair of Party General Secretary, President andhead of the committee Nguyen Phu Trong, to look back at its work in 2019 andline out key tasks for 2020.
*Corruptioncurbed, on declining trend
Looking back atthe year 2019 and the time since the 12th National Party Congress,the committee agreed that the anti-corruption fight has made strong advanceswith more evident results, winning approval of cadres, Party members and thepeople.
Corruption hasbeen step-by-step curbed and shown a declining trend, contributing tomaintaining political stability, promoting socio-economic development andenhancing the country’s position and prestige on the international arena.
Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trongunderlined that the steering committee had focused its instruction oncompleting institutions of socio-economic management and corruption preventionand combat, towards making it impossible for committing corrupt acts.
During 2019, the Party CentralCommittee and its Politburo, Secretariat have issued nearly 30 documents on strengtheningthe Party and political system and preventing and fighting corruption, theNational Assembly has passed 18 laws, 20 resolutions; the Government and thePrime Minister have issued 100 decrees, 119 resolutions, 37 decisions and 33directives to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of State managementacross the fields of social life, helping preventing negative phenomena andcorruption.
Since thebeginning of the tenure, the Party Central Committee and its Politburo,Secretariat have issued nearly 80 documents, the National Assembly has passed 63laws and ordinances, 66 resolutions; the Government and the Prime Minister haveissued 611 decrees, 523 resolutions, and 197 decisions to strengthen thecorruption preventive mechanism.
*Newbreakthroughs
The inspection,auditing, investigation, prosecution and trial work has been intensified,resulting in new breakthroughs in discovering and handling corrupt acts.
More than 420Party members have been punished for committing corruption or intentionallyviolating regulations. Three Party organisations and more than 20 officialsunder the management of the Party Central Committee, including five members andformer members of the Party Central Committee, have been disciplined during 2019.
Since thebeginning of the 12th 🎶tenure, more than 90 officials under themanagement of the Party Central Committee, including 21 members and formermembers of the Part𒈔y Central Committee (two Politburo members), and 22 officersof general ranks in the armed forces have been disciplined.
The investigationand handling of corruption and economic cases have becoming stricter and moreeffective. In 2019, the central steering committee for anti-corruptionsupervised and instructed the handling of 67 legal cases and 55 other cases. Itis noteworthy that 10 serious cases of public concern have been brought tofirst-instance court
Since the startof the tenure, the committee has instructed the handling of 107 legal cases and90 other cases, with 53 cases put on trial.
*Removingobstacles and shortcomings
Delegates at the sessionwere unanimous that the steering committee should focus its instruction onimproving weak links in the anti-corruption fight such as appraisal and valuationof assets, recovery of assets in corruption and economic cases. They also urgedintensifying the prevention of pet corruption, and pushing actions at ministries,agencies and localities.
Many opinionshighlighted positive changes in educational and communication activities onfighting corruption, with functional agencies proactively releasing informationon issues of public concern. The Vietnam Fatherland Front and its memberorganisations continued to well perform their role of supervision and socialcriticism, and the media actively promoted communication campaigns witharticle, special columns and forums on corruption.
Party GeneralSecretary Trong said the outcome is attributable to the high resolve from thehighest to the lowest levels, united leadership, appropriate methods and smoothcoordination among involved agencies and links. The support of the public andthe engagement of the mass media are also important factors.
He stressed thatthe organisation of Party congresses at all levels in 2020 is not the reasonfor relaxing efforts to fight corruption. On the contrary, the fight should beintensified to serve the 13th National Party Congress.
According to theParty leader, the focus of the work ahead is to continue perfecting institutionsfor socio-economic management and anti-corruption efforts, and to research andpropose major orientations for corruption prevention and combat in draftdocuments of the 13th National Party Congress.
He required thesteering committee to press on with the inspection and auditing of sensitivefields of public concern, timely detect and punish officials and Party membersviolating the law, and intensify the inspection of anti-corruption performanceby top position holders in Party committees, Party organisations andadministrations at all levels.
Trong also urgedaccelerating the handling of serious corruption and economic cases, naming 10cases of public concern to be settled in 2020, such as the violation of landmanagement regulations at Sabeco in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, and theviolation of regulations on State asset management and use related to theproject at No 8-12 Le Duan street in HCM City’s District 1, among others.
The steeringcommittee w⛄as also required to create stronger and more consistent changes inthe fight against corruption at grassroots level and effectively curb petcorruption in the time ahead./.
