Hanoi (VNA) – The performance of the court, procuracꦰy and audit sectors during the 2011-2016 tenure was reviewed during the ongoing 11th meeting of the 13th National Assembly on March 22.

In his report, Chief Justice of the Vietnam Supreme People’s Court Truong Hoa Binh affirmed that in the past five years, the court sector basically fulfilled its tasks. The quality of judgments was improved as the sector focused on intensifying litigation during hearings, bettering profession training and ensuring the application of laws. In the period, courts handled 1,781,410 out of 1,809,080 received cases, or 98.5 percent. The rate of cases and decisions cancelled or amended due to judges’ subjectivity reduced 1.35 percent compared with that of the previous tenure. Courts at all levels also addressed 86.5 percent of requests for review and reconsideration, or 30,774 requests. Furthermore, during this tenure, the Supreme People’s Court also carried out a lot of projects on judicial reform with the aim to perfect mechanisms on the organisation and operations of the Court in particular, and judicial agencies in general, Binh said. However, the Chief Justice pointed out several shortcomings and weaknesses of the courts, including three unjust convictions and several expired cases. Examining the Chief Justice’s report, the NA Committee on Judicial Affairs asked the Supreme People’s Court to maintain the effective implementation of judicial reform tasks following the Party’s and legislature’s resolutions on judicial affairs, the 2013 Constitution, and the 2014 Law on the Organisation of People's Courts. The Court was also requested to apply legal precedents in judging, and increase the quality of judgments related to corruption and human rights. In his report delivered at the meeting, Prosecutor General of the Vietnam Supreme People’s Procuracy Nguyen Hoa Binh said that during 2011-2016, the procuracy sector saw progress in all working areas, especially in enforcing prosecution rights and supervising judicial activities. The sector handled 97.3 percent of lodged denouncements, or 387,857 ones, surpassing 7.3 percent of the assigned target. The investigation agency of the Supreme People’s Procuracy also detected and started legal procedures against 150 cases, up 92.3 percent. The Supreme People’s Procuracy also issued 6,035 appeals for judgment review, of which 85 percent were accepted by the Supreme People’s Court. However, there still remained several incorrect prosecution cases and long-lasting corruption and economic cases. The litigation quality of prosecutors at several hearings was yet to meet requirements of judicial reform, according to the report. Also on March 22, NA deputies heard a report on the 2011-2016 working tenure delivered by Auditor General of the State Audit Office of Vietnam Nguyen Huu Van. Van said that during the period, the legal corridor for the organisation and operations of the State Audit Office was increasingly perfected, while the auditing capacity was improved. The sector conducted 180 to 200 audits a year. It helped save more than 101 trillion VND (4.7 billion USD) for the State budget during the period, through helping increase budget collections, reducing budget spending and through financial punishments. On the morning of March 23, NA deputies will discuss in groups on a draft report on the 13 th working tenure of the NA and its offices, a report on the performance of the Government and the Prime Minister, and the reports of the Chief Justice, the Prosecutor General and the Auditor General.-VNA