Anti-corruption steering committee calls for stronger effort next year

Hanoi (VNA) – The Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption (CSCAC) held its ninth meeting in Hanoi on December 28, highlighting a must for stronger and more fruitful anti-corruption activities.

Participants at the meeting noted that the corruption prevention and combat have made progress and reaped important outcomes in 2015.

Anti-corruption communications have been renovated. A number of the Party and State’s related documents were issued such as the Politburo’s Directive 50 CT/TW on enhancing the Party leadership over the detection and settlement of corruption cases, the Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, and the law on organisation of criminal investigation agencies.

Coordination among relevant agencies in anti-corruption has been tightened, bringing a number serious corruption cases into light, they said.

From December 1, 2014 to November 30, 2015, investigation agencies brought criminal proceedings against 216 corruption cases involving 460 persons. The People’s Procuracies at all levels prosecuted 266 cases with 591 people. Meanwhile, all-level People’s Courts brought the first instance trials against 235 cases with 531 defendants.

Seven of the eight major corruption cases that the CSCAC demanded to come to trial before the 12th National Party Congress, slated for late January 2016, have been dealt as scheduled. The rest case will be on trial in the near future.

Over the last three years, the CSCAC has put 243 complex corruption and economic regulation violation cases under monitoring. Sixty-three of them have been completely solved while the settlement of the remaining cases is being accelerated.

In his speech, Party General Secretary and CSCAC Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong shared the committee members’ view on the progress of anti-corruption efforts.

He asked for the stringent settlement of big and small corruption cases, the consolidation of authorised forces like taxation, customs, inspection and auditing, and the promotion of inspection and investigation activities.

The Politburo’s recent issuance of several directions on asset declaration and the detection and solving of corruption incidents was welcomed by the public. However, the problem is how to turn words into action, he stressed.

Anti-corruption efforts must be intensified in a more result-oriented manner after the 12th National Party Congress wraps up, the leader said, adding that corruption is still one of the public’s most concerned issues.

Corruption prevention and combat is a long-term, full-of-hardship and complicated fight within each individual and organisation, the Party chief emphasised.-VNA