Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption (CSCAC) to determine on implementing synchronous measures to fight corruption.

The PM made the request while attending the committee’s 16 th regular meeting in Hanoi on Nov. 15. The meeting aimed to review anti-corruption work in the third quarter of this year and put forwards measures for the remaining months of 2011 and early 2012.

The CSCAC should focus more on measures to prevent corruption acts, including speeding up the completion of institutions, administrative reforms, inspection and audit to timely detect and deal with corruption, PM Dung said.

To ensure the efficiency of public investment projects, the Government will closely supervise the implementation of these projects in the direction of placing responsibility on those who make investment decisions, he added.

The PM entrusted the Government Inspectorate to build a decree requesting heads of agencies to actively publicise their bodies’ spending and investment.

Emphasising the importance of anti-corruption information, the Government leader suggested media agencies continue speeding up the popularisation and education on corruption prevention in combination with implementing the campaign “Studying and following the moral example of President Ho Chi Minh”.

Speaking at the meeting, CSCAC members said that anti-corruption work has recorded certain achievements over the past time, representing the determination of the Party and State and stressing the role, position and importance of the fight against corruption in the social life.

However, the fight is facing many difficulties as corruption acts become more sophisticated, they said, adding that the slow and prolonged process of investigating, prosecuting and handling cases raises doubts among people on the determination and strictness in corruption prevention.

According to Chief of the CSCAC Office Nguyen Dinh Phach, in the first nine months of 2011, judicial agencies took proceedings against 161 corruption cases, down 2.4 percent compared to the same period last year./.