The conference was attended by over 80,000 people, both in-person and online. VNA/VNS Photo Trí Dũng

HÀ NỘI — Speaking at a conference reviewing the fight against corruption over the past ten years, Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng said, despite many complications, continuous efforts are needed to stop wrongdoings. 

He made the statement while chairing a national conference on anti-corruption work in the 2012-22 period. The conference took place in Hà Nội with nearly 500 delegates attending in person and more than 80,000 participants attending online from all over the country. 

The conference serves to promote the results of the last ten years and the lessons learned. With the establishment of the Central Steering Committee on Corruption Prevention and Control under the Politburo, the fight against corruption has achieved many results. The work leaves a good impression, creates a positive effect and spreads strongly throughout society.

Corruption has been gradually curbed and prevented, making an important contribution to maintaining political stability, socio-economic development, and strengthening the confidence of officials, party members and people in the Party and the State.

Speaking at the conference, Party General Secretary Trọng said that many valuable lessons can be learnt, both in theory and in practice, from the fight against corruption in the country over the past time. 

He emphasised the need to fully and deeply realise the position, meaning and importance of the fight against corruption. The work must be placed under the leadership of the Party.

“Anyone who abuses position for personal benefits must be held accountable and punished for violations,” he said.

Party General Secretary Trọng believes that it is necessary to build strict prevention, deterrent and punishment policies so that nobody "dares to be corrupt".

He said that in the fight against corruption, it is impossible to be hasty; on the contrary, one must be very persistent in resolutely detecting corruption activities.

Party General Secretary Trọng said that anti-corruption work must be linked with the practice of thrift and anti-waste, associated with prevention and following late President Hồ Chí Minh's ideology, morality and living style.

“We must thoroughly grasp late President Hồ Chí Minh’s point of view: 'People are the root'. We must rely on the people and listen to them to select and conduct the right things. We should also effectively deploy anti-corruption activities in the non-State sector and strengthen international cooperation in anti-corruption,” he said.

Anti-corruption solutions must be suitable for the development of a socialist-oriented market economy in Việt Nam and the nation’s cultural traditions.

Regarding tasks and solutions in the coming time, Party General Secretary Trọng pointed out that it was necessary to further educate and build a culture of thrift among officials, party members and the people.

“This is not a new task, but very important. Education is one of the basic measures to raise awareness, spirit, consciousness and morality,” he said.

He reminds all officials and Party members to remember late President Hồ's advice, that the Party was both leader and also the faithful servant of the people. The Party must always rely on the people, listen to them, do its best to conduct whatever is beneficial to the people. On the contrary, what is harmful to the people must be avoided.

He said that inspection must be conducted regularly, comprehensively and openly, with a focus on areas that are prone to corruption.

Expressing his belief that the fight against corruption in the coming time will have a new, stronger, more drastic and more effective step, Party General Secretary Trọng affirmed corruption would be prevented and repelled, building the Party and the State to become more and more pure and strong, meeting the requirements of the revolutionary cause and being worthy of the people's trust, love and expectations.

He urged all leading officials of the Party and the State to uphold their sense of responsibility before the Party, the people and the nation, to be exemplary and to take the lead in directing and implementing solutions to prevent and combat corruption.

Reporting on the 10-year fight, Phan Đình Trạc, chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Internal Affairs and standing deputy chairman of the central steering committee, said more than 2,700 Party organisations and nearly 168,000 members have been disciplined, including 7,390 members punished for corruption or links with corruption.

Among them, the Party Central Committee, Politburo, secretariat, and inspection committees have issued disciplinary measures against over 170 officials under the Party Central Committee’s management.

Through inspection and auditing, agencies proposed nearly 44,700 collectives and individuals with wrongdoings fines of VNĐ975 trillion (US$41.8 billion) and nearly 76,000ha of land was recovered. About 1,200 cases of suspected criminal activity were sent to investigation agencies.

Prosecution authorities launched investigations into 19,546 cases, with 33,868 suspects. Of this, 16,699 cases were prosecuted for corruption, position abuse, and economic-related charges.

Corrupt asset recovery has improved with civil judgment enforcement bodies recovering VNĐ61 trillion ($2.6 billion), equivalent to 34.7 per cent (compared to the rate of less than 10 per cent in 2013). In particular, nearly VNĐ50 trillion ($2.1 billion), equivalent to 41.3 per cent, worth of corrupt assets in the cases subject to the central steering committee’s supervision has been recovered.

Trạc also highlighted improvements in institutional building, personnel affairs, asset and income control, policy and law dissemination, as well as the inspection, investigation, prosecution and hearing of cases, and the enforcement of verdicts. — VNS