Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung highlighted anti-corruption as one of the Government Inspectorate’s priorities in 2014 at a teleconference in Hanoi on January 8.

He asked the agency to perform better in detecting corruption cases, focusing particularly on financial transactions in areas such as construction, land, State budget collection and public procurement.

The leader underlined the need for the Government Inspectorate to partner closely with ministries and localities to handle the remaining 62 out of 528 complaints and denunciations currently pending investigation.

The PM also instructed closer inspection of the performance of ministers and chairpersons of People’s Committees around Vietnam, especially in exercising State management of land, capital construction investment, State-owned enterprises and implementation of national target programmes.

Urging local leaders to increase their direct dialogue with the public, PM Dung said complaints and denunciations should be addressed from grassroots level upwards to ensure social order and security.

He also spoke highly of the effort made by the Inspectorate recently, which he claimed has significantly contributed to the country’s achievements.

According to Inspector General Huynh Phong Tranh, last year, the agency conducted a total of 8,921 administrative inspections. They detected the misuse of 326.5 trillion VND and 4,520 ha of land. As a result, more than 25 trillion VND and 3,653 hectares of land have been reclaimed while more than 1,580 collectives and 2,675 individuals were fined for administrative violations. The inspection sector also transferred 72 cases and 75 individuals to investigation agencies.

However, the low efficiency of inspection work, the slow settlement of disputes and a lack of resources have limited the impact of anti-corruption efforts.

To deal with these shortcomings, inspections should be held more regularly and on a surprise basis, the teleconference heard-VNA