Nguyen Thai Hoc, deputy head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for International Affairs, speaks at the workshop (Source: daibieunhandan.vn) Hanoi (VNA) – International judicial cooperation in criminal asset recovery was the main topic of a workshop held in Hanoi on December 13.
Participants pointed out poor results of criminal asset recovery in Vietnam, such as the small amount of money and assets reclaimed so far, slow progress, and pending cases.
The recovery of criminal assets stashed abroad has yet to mount to anything substantial, they said.
Le Tien, Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters under the Supreme People’s Procuracy, suggested that Vietnam consider building a law on legal assistance specifically in criminal matters that is separate from the 2007 Law on Legal Assistance in order to improve the efficiency of the work.
The law must include criminal asset recovery in the legal assistance of criminal matters, and prescribe procedures for international cooperation in this regard, he said, adding laws on criminal asset recovery should also be formed in the long run.
Nguyen Tuan Khanh, Deputy Director of the Inspectorate Strategy and Science Institute, suggested temporary measures such as blockading, sealing off, and seizing assets in order to prevent them from being marketed, transferred, exchanged, or destroyed.
Nguyen Thai Hoc, deputy head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for International Affairs, touched upon loose coordination between relevant agencies and stressed the need to respect and understand international law and standards in the work.
Akiko Jujii, Deputy Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam, noted the Vietnamese Government has taken stronger measures to control corruption, in both public and private sectors.
However, there are still many limitations in monitoring and reclaiming criminal assets, she said. –VNA
VNA
