This is the content shared by Mr. Ngo Pham Viet at the seminar "Solutions to recover corrupt assets in Ho Chi Minh City".

The discussion was organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee's Internal Affairs Committee in coordination with the Saigon Giai Phong Newspaper this morning (October 11).

Mr. Ngo Minh Chau - Head of the Internal Affairs Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee - emphasized that the recovery of assets appropriated and lost in corruption and economic criminal cases is an urgent task. This requires determination and continuous efforts from leaders at all levels, functional agencies and the whole society.

However, Mr. Chau also commented that besides positive changes, the work of recovering corrupt assets in Ho Chi Minh City still faces many difficulties and challenges.

Mr. Ngo Pham Viet also said that in the first months of this year, the situation of economic crimes, corruption, and position-related crimes continued to develop complicatedly, occurring in many areas and with many subjects. Criminal acts were systematic and occurred over a long period of time.

According to Mr. Viet, right from the time of handling crime reports, denunciations and recommendations for prosecution, prosecutors and prosecutors proactively research to propose verification requirements, collect documents and evidence to clarify criminal signs, and determine the property that has been appropriated.

This person also affirmed that during the criminal trial, the People's Procuracy and the People's Court always focus on questioning and debating to clarify the defendant's criminal acts, how the damaged and misappropriated assets were used and transformed. This is to apply accurate and thorough recovery measures.

Criminalize illicit enrichment

At the seminar, Chief Inspector of Ho Chi Minh City - Mr. Tran Van Bay commented that the shortcomings in current regulations pose a high risk of violators and their relatives dissipating assets.

Thereby, Mr. Bay proposed to study and perfect synchronous, unified and feasible legal regulations to limit the dispersal of assets by violators; supplement the mechanism of confiscation and recovery of assets by the form of "Criminalizing illegal enrichment to increase the effectiveness of sanctions for handling corruption".

According to the Chief Inspector of Ho Chi Minh City, the difficulty in recovering assets is mainly due to the fact that the regulations are still principled and not specific; there is a lack of enforcement measures and sanctions for those who are slow to respond and deliberately evade responsibility.

"In reality, assets acquired through violations are often hidden, concealed or transferred during the crime. Therefore, we need regulations on the right to inspect, monitor and track the changes of all assets and income," Mr. Bay proposed.

Sharing the same view, Lieutenant Colonel Ngo Thuong Lang - Deputy Head of the Economic Police Department, Ho Chi Minh City Police - said that right from the time of receiving as well as throughout the investigation process, the authorities need to quickly analyze and trace the "money flow" to promptly apply measures to prevent and freeze assets.

Mr. Lang informed that recently, Ho Chi Minh City Police have made efforts to investigate and uncover many large and especially serious corruption and economic cases; severely punishing many subjects with the spirit of "no forbidden areas, no exceptions".

During the period of 2021-2023, the Ho Chi Minh City Police Investigation Agency has handled and investigated 208 cases with 512 defendants and 419 economic and corruption cases in many key economic sectors. The total amount of assets lost and misappropriated is up to 1,992 billion VND.

The representative of Ho Chi Minh City Police emphasized that during the litigation process, it is necessary to be resolute and thoroughly collect evidence proving the loss and misappropriation of assets in order to promptly freeze and seize them, especially assets that are dispersed and registered in the names of relatives of the subjects.

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The Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Procuracy said that the work of recovering corrupt assets in recent years has been "better and more active", however "what is lost and what is regained is not commensurate".

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