Reforming administrative procedures and operating the functions of governance and business in a transparent and open manner are essential to preventing corruption, said the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made the comment in Hanoi on July 8 during the 10th meeting of the Anti-corruption Central Steering Committee to review the fight against corruption in the first half of the year and to provide guidelines for efforts in the second half.

PM Dung also underlined the need to help the people and mass organisations step-up their involvement in anti-corruption programmes in the country in the second half of the year.

For the coming six months, PM Dung asked ministries, central sectors and branches at all levels to continue effectively implementing the adopted solutions to combat this menace.

He required the ministries, central sectors and branches to further expand campaigns and education programmes on the fight against corruption in conjunction with promulgating the movement of “studying and following the moral example of President Ho Chi Minh” and to think of anti-corruption work as the key task laid before them.

Inspection, auditing, supervision, investigation, prosecution, and related activities need to be reinforced and relevant agencies must strengthen their coordination in detecting and dealing with cases of corruption, PM Dung said.

He asked responsible agencies to focus on inspecting, supervising and monitoring the management and use of land, investment and construction, natural resource management, the settlement of long-standing petitions and complaints, and the use of the Government’s stimulus packages.

The Government leader also asked the press to provide the public with accurate and prompt information relating to the national fight against corruption.

As Head of the Anti-corruption Central Steering Committee, PM Dung affirmed that positive changes were achieved by the anti-corruption fight in the past six months, which should further consolidate the Party and people’s confidence in the entire political system’s resolve to root out this scourge.

He stressed that those involved in major corruption cases discovered recently were strictly punished, which has helped raise awareness among officials and the people alike of the importance of preventing and combating corruption.

However, PM Dung pointed to weaknesses in anti-corruption efforts, including the slow implementation of anti-corruption regulations in the domains of declaration of assets and land management, the time-consuming handling of suspected cases of corruption, and issues concerning the culpability of managers who have allowed corruption to take place in their units.

The Anti-Corruption Central Steering Committee reported that in the past six months, Government inspectors uncovered wrongdoings that were worth over 11 trillion VND and nearly 150,000 USD.

Government inspectors also proposed the imposition of administrative sanctions on 11 collectives and 24 individuals and suggested investigation units continue to probe into three other cases.

Meanwhile, inspectors from ministries, sectors and localities conducted 6,909 inspections, proposing administrative sanctions on 275 collectives and over 1,000 individuals and transferring 26 cases and 33 people to investigation units for further examination.

Authorities at six ministries and sectors and 11 provinces and cities handled 115 heads of organisations involved in corruption./.