On August 14, in Hanoi, the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption and Negative Action (Steering Committee) held its 26th meeting under the chairmanship of General Secretary, President To Lam, Head of the Steering Committee to discuss and give opinions on the following contents: Report on the situation and results of the implementation of the work program in the first 6 months of 2024 and key tasks in the last 6 months of 2024; Report on the results of directing and handling cases and cases under the supervision and direction of the Steering Committee since the 25th meeting (February 2024) of the Steering Committee to date; Report on the results of the activities of the Provincial Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption and Negative Action (PCTNTC) in the first 6 months of 2024.

In 6 months , 2,836 new cases of corruption, economic and position crimes were prosecuted and investigated.

The report at the meeting said that in the first 6 months of 2024, inspection, supervision, audit and auditing work continued to be promoted; violations were strictly handled, associated with handling the political responsibility of leaders, creating a new breakthrough in anti-corruption work. In the first 6 months of 2024, Party committees and inspection committees at all levels disciplined 308 Party organizations and 11,005 Party members (an increase of 34 Party organizations and 1,055 Party members compared to the same period in 2023).

The Central Executive Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat, and the Central Inspection Commission have disciplined 47 officials under the Central Government's management. The Inspection and Auditing sector has focused on inspecting and auditing areas and areas prone to corruption and negativity, and on topics and cases under the direction of the Steering Committee; through inspection and auditing, it has recommended the recovery and financial handling of VND 71,431.6 billion and 24.9 hectares of land; recommended administrative handling of 856 collectives and 3,862 individuals (an increase of 72 collectives and 950 individuals compared to the same period in 2023).

The coordination mechanism in detecting and handling corruption and negativity through inspection, auditing, investigation, prosecution, trial and execution of judgments continued to be promoted; the competent authorities transferred 269 cases with signs of crime to the investigation agency for investigation and handling in accordance with the provisions of law; the State Audit Office provided 89 records, audit reports and related documents to competent authorities to serve the investigation, inspection and supervision work.

Since the beginning of the year, competent authorities have considered removing from office, retiring from work, and assigning to other jobs 14 officials under the management of the Central Committee and 172 officials under the management of local Party committees, regarding the responsibility of leaders or related to corruption and negative cases; including members of the Politburo, members of the Secretariat, and members of the Party Central Committee.

Investigation, prosecution and trial work was directed to be carried out strongly and resolutely; many particularly serious corruption and negative cases, involving many ministries, branches and localities, were directed to be strictly handled in accordance with the motto "handling one case, warning an entire region, an entire field", "no forbidden areas, no exceptions".

In the first 6 months of 2024, nationwide, 2,836 new cases/5,975 defendants were prosecuted and investigated for corruption, economic and position crimes (an increase of 841 cases, 1,487 defendants compared to the same period in 2023), including 475 cases/1,094 defendants for corruption crimes. Particularly, the cases and incidents under the supervision and direction of the Steering Committee have completed investigation, prosecution, and brought to first instance trial 8 cases/212 defendants, and 06 cases/39 defendants for appeal; of which, the trial of a number of key cases has been completed according to the Steering Committee's plan.

Civil enforcement agencies have recovered nearly 7,750 billion VND.

In recent times, the Provincial Steering Committees for Anti-Corruption and Discrimination have been operating in an increasingly disciplined and effective manner, creating many positive changes in the work of anti-corruption and discriminatory practices in localities. In the first 6 months of 2024, the Provincial Steering Committees decided to put 107 corruption and negative cases and incidents under monitoring and direction for focused direction and handling; local prosecution agencies initiated new prosecutions of 444 cases/1,003 defendants for corruption.

The work of recovering corrupt assets; appraising and valuing assets continues to receive attention and direction, with many positive changes. The prosecution agencies have proactively applied many measures to verify, track down and recover misappropriated and lost assets. Particularly for cases and incidents under the supervision and direction of the Steering Committee in the first 6 months of 2024, civil enforcement agencies have recovered nearly 7,750 billion VND, bringing the total amount recovered since the establishment of the Steering Committee to 85,520 billion VND.

Strong solutions needed to tackle “petty corruption”

Regarding the key tasks in the last months of 2024 and the coming time, General Secretary and President To Lam, Head of the Steering Committee, requested that Party committees, Party organizations, and functional agencies absolutely must not be subjective or satisfied with the achieved results, but must continue to strongly and synchronously deploy solutions, resolutely and persistently fight against corruption according to the motto "relentlessly, without rest, no forbidden areas, no exceptions, regardless of who the person is; prosecute one case, alert the whole region, the whole field".

General Secretary and President To Lam emphasized three requirements: Anti-corruption must serve socio-economic development, not affect or hinder socio-economic development because of promoting anti-corruption; anti-corruption must be deployed to the grassroots party and party cells, and must be supervised by cadres, party members and the people; special attention must be paid to the work of preventing and combating negativity, especially negative manifestations that are the origin and cause of corruption.

General Secretary and President To Lam requested to focus on leading and directing the effective implementation of tasks according to the 2024 work program of the Steering Committee and the conclusions of the meetings of the Steering Committee and the Standing Committee of the Steering Committee. In particular, focusing on directing the resolute handling of weak points and unfinished work, especially directing the resolute handling of limitations, difficulties and obstacles in the work of appraisal, asset valuation, document provision, judicial assistance, arrest and extradition of fugitives; difficulties and obstacles in recovering corrupt assets, and having strong solutions to overcome the situation of "petty corruption" causing trouble for people and businesses.

Speed ​​up the verification and investigation of serious and complicated corruption and negativity that the public is concerned about. Strive from now until the end of 2024 to focus on completing the investigation, prosecution and trial of 30 cases; completing the verification and settlement of 6 cases under the supervision and direction of the Steering Committee. Especially focus on investigating and thoroughly handling cases and incidents related to AIC Company, Xuyen Viet Oil, Vietnam Electricity Group, Thuan An Group, Phuc Son, Van Thinh Phat, Saigon Dai Ninh project (Lam Dong)... and cases and incidents related to party congress personnel at all levels.

Perfecting the institution of power control

Continue to promote the development and synchronous completion of institutions on anti-corruption. The focus is on completing institutions on power control, anti-corruption; on protecting those fighting against corruption and negativity; on controlling assets and income of people with positions and powers; on handling evidence, assets temporarily seized, seized, or frozen during the investigation, prosecution, and trial of cases and incidents; on non-cash payments, etc.

Urgently address loopholes and inadequacies in mechanisms, policies and laws as recommended by competent authorities. Strengthen, synchronize and make more effective the work of inspection, supervision, auditing and auditing, focusing on areas prone to corruption and negativity, and on topics and cases as directed by the Steering Committee.

At the same time, continue to direct the improvement of the effectiveness of information, propaganda and education on anti-corruption, persistently build a culture of integrity, no corruption and negativity among cadres, party members and people. Strongly promote the role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations, the press and people in the fight against anti-corruption; improve the effectiveness of the Provincial Steering Committee for Anti-corruption; effectively overcome the situation of "petty corruption", creating a stronger change in anti-corruption work at the local level. Strengthen control over the exercise of power, strictly and promptly handle violations, corruption and negativity in agencies with anti-corruption functions.

TRAN BINH