Corruption hinders fight against smuggling, trade fraud

Hanoi (VNA) - Crimes relating to smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods were still a big problem due to irresponsibility, loose management and corrupted State employees, said Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh.

Binh, who is also head of the National Steering Committee 389 for Anti-smuggling, Counterfeit Goods and Trade Fraud, said at the committee’s meeting on July 23 that in the first half of this year, authorities, agencies and the committee did a good job in tackling corruption, particularly in cases relating to land management and public investment.

However, there remained a group of corrupt State employees who abetted and covered up crimes, he said, adding that they would be strictly punished.

Deputy Minister of Public Security Senior Lieutenant General Le Quy Vuong reported at the meeting that in the first half of this year, nearly 75,300 cases of smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods were detected, down 12 percent compared with the same period last year.

Criminal investigations and legal proceedings were launched in 1,128 cases involving 1,346 suspects. The numbers of cases and suspects reduced 14 percent and 13 percent respectively compared with the same period last year.

Cracking down on smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods helped add nearly 11.3 trillion VND (490 million USD) to the State budget.

As many as 23,465 crimes were reported in the last six months, a year-on-year reduction of 8.4 percent, Vuong said, adding that cybercrimes were more and more complicated and hidden.

He said the public was very concerned over violations relating to speculation, smuggling and producing fake medical products during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly bidding and purchasing of medical equipment serving disease prevention and control.   

Nguyen Van Can, General Director of the General Department of Vietnam Customs, said that early this month, customs officers found 50,000 Chinese bikes and electronic bikes labelled as Made-in-Vietnam products for export to the US.

Notably, customs also found a company that illegally falsified certificate of origin (C/O) and issued it to 30 exporting companies with the value of exported goods worth 600 billion VND (26 million USD) while the company was not authorised to grant C/O.

“This kind of trade fraud is seen for the first time in Vietnam,” Can said, adding that customs and economic police were working together and would soon launch legal proceedings in the case./.