Anti-corruption a long-term task: Vietnamese Party chief

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong

Corruption prevention is an important work that needs to be conducted regularly, continuously, resolutely and patiently, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong affirmed at a national conference of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption on June 25.

All officials and Party members, especially leaders, should be exemplary, have high consensus on will and action in the fight against corruption, and not dare to lose prestige or do demerits, stated Trong, who is also head of the committee.

He stressed the need for officials and Party members to rely on the public and listen to them through doing what the public applaud and support, and stop doing what they do not approve, and even hate and oppose.

Together with strict punishment of violations, it is necessary to have a mechanism to protect and encourage those who dare to think, dare to do and dare to take responsibility and lead the way in reform for the country’s development, he noted.

The Party chief called for intensified efforts to fight wrong points of view and distorted allegations of hostile forces who want to take advantage of anti-corruption combat to smear the Vietnamese Party, State and regime.

He emphasised the importance of fostering and increasing the efficiency of disseminations on anti-corruption work to make the public know that Party rectification and punishment of violated officials and Party members do not slow down development, but purify the political apparatus and officials, and consolidate confidence of people.

The press and mass media should encourage and back the involvement of the entire political system and people in the fight against corruption, he suggested.

He also suggested making and improving the Party’s regulations and the State’s policies and laws on anti-corruption towards the formation of a close preventive mechanism which provides no room for corruption, wastefulness and bureaucracy to take shelter.

The Party leader also called for efforts to improve the building of the Party and the political system, and combat individualism, selfishness and group benefits.

Party members in any positions, if violating law, will be punished strictly without exceptions, Trong said, noting that it is essential to address weaknesses in personnel work, and supervise and control power to prevent corruption.

According to him, power is always at risk of being “depraved”. Therefore, it is crucial to establish a mechanism controlling the exercise of power for leaders following a principle that all power is controlled closely and bound to responsibility.

Inspections must be intensified to ensure power runs publicly, transparently, and incorruptly, he stated.

“Leaders at all levels should remember that no one has absolute power beyond the law, anyone who use power must serve the public, take responsibility in front of the public and be supervised by the public,” he said.

Everything officials or Party members do should originate from the people and be for the people, Trong stressed, stressing that even one penny of public property is not allowed to be spent recklessly.

The Party chief also emphasised the need to improve the efficiency of detecting and addressing corruption cases, particularly in localities and grassroots level, and revoking corrupted assets, and speed up the investigation on economic corruption cases, especially those attracting public attention.

Violations must be punished strictly based on the Party’s regulations and the State’s law without restricted area, privilege or exceptions, Trong said.

According to a report delivered at the conference by Phan Dinh Trac, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, head of the CPV Central Committee’s Commission for Internal Affairs and deputy head of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption, since 2014, disciplinary measures have been applied on 840 Party organisations and 58,120 Party members, of whom, 2,720 violated anti-corruption regulations.

Since the beginning of 2016, 490 Party organisations and 35,000 Party members have been punished, including 1,300 Party members involved in corruption.

Notably, 50 centrally-managed officials, including nine members or former members of the Party Central Committee, received disciplinary measures. Among them, Dinh La Thang, a member of the Party Central Committee and former member of the Politburo, was expelled from the Party.

Over the years, many serious corruption and economic cases were brought to light and handled in accordance with the law without any exceptions.