State anti-corruption body comes step closer

Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Van An said if the committee was put under the National Assembly there would have been confusion between the National Assembly, the lawmaking and supervisory body, and the government, the executive organ of laws.
“So thorough discussions and consideration by the steering board of the National Assembly concluded that the committee will be a specialised organ to assist the Prime Minister in controlling corruption and bribery,” An said.
Many deputy are still disappointed as they believe the committee wouldn’t be as effective under the government as it would be under the National Assembly.
They also said that despite the fact there is the State Inspectorate under the government, 30 to 40 per cent of investment capital for infrastructure and construction still disappears through corruption, embezzlement and wastefulness.
Several recent bribery cases have damaged the image of various government ministries, including the quota allocation scandal traced to vice minister of trade Mai Van Dau, the corruption for investment projects by PetroVietnam Corporation and bribes to install electronic thermometers in Electricity of Vietnam under the Ministry of Industry.
Mai Quoc Binh, deputy chief of the State Inspectorate, said an independent supervision committee under the National Assembly would assist the government in its fight against corruption. “At present, the State Inspectorate has not fulfilled its responsibility,” he said.
However, An insisted the anti-corruption committee will be a board that will help the Prime Minister review tasks of various ministries and departments and advise him on the best ways to settle bribery and corruption.
Dang Van Xuong, a deputy from Long An Province, said to control bribery most effectively, the leaders of ministries and departments where there is corruption should bear responsibility for the cases.
“The heads of a number of ministries and departments in which bribery and corruption happened haven’t been strictly punished yet,” he said.
Recently, Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen and Minister of Industry Hoang Trung Hai have had to explain corruption cases by lower-ranking officials to the government. However, a number of deputies want to have stiffer punishments, in particular a requirement to force ministers to explain corruption in their departments to the National Assembly, possibly followed by a credibility vote on the ministers’ position.
Nguyen Nghiem, a deputy from Binh Phuoc Province, proposed that heads of ministries and departments should be required to declare their assets and properties, saying the transparency would minimise the increasing number of bribery cases.
Some deputies said it was important to define a clear structure for the operation of the anti-corruption board and added there should be close cooperation with the Ministry of Public Security, the State Inspectorate and the Investigation Institute.