The National Assembly Standing Committee on Thursday gives opinions on the Government's reports on crimes, legal violations; judgment enforcement in 2022. VNA/VNS Photo

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HÀ NỘI — A Government report has revealed the detection of corruption has risen this year, especially in health, land use and management, bidding, auction and securities, thanks to increased inspection and stricter measures

Economic crimes and corruption associated with "group interests" increased, the Government reported to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Thursday. They noted that many corruption cases with particularly serious consequences were detected, especially in health, land use and management, bidding, auction and securities sectors.

According to the Government's report, in 2022, socio-economic management, Party-building, and political institutions have been perfected, gradually forming a stricter mechanism to prevent corruption.

Personnel work, administrative reform, publicity, transparency, accountability in public affairs and anti-corruption solutions are given much attention, generating positive results. Inspection, supervision and auditing have been strengthened, promptly detecting and strictly handling many violations.

About 6,980 agencies, organisations and units (an increase of 26.2 per cent compared to 2021) were inspected over implementing the code of conduct. Through the inspection, 178 cadres, civil servants and public employees were found violating the code of conduct and professional ethics (an increase of 98 cases compared to 2021). Seven cases reported and submitted gifts worth VNĐ135.3 million.

Between October 1, 2021, and July 31, 2022, 542,337 officials made declarations of assets and income. So far, 7,662 people have their assets and income verified. In addition, nearly 5,000 agencies, organisations and units have been inspected for implementing the asset and income declaration. Through verification, 74 officials were found to have not declared following the regulations.

In terms of handling the responsibility of the head when corruption occurs, in 2022, 19 leaders received sanctions for lack of responsibility that facilitated corruption. Ten of them received criminal punishment. One was dismissed, five others got warnings, and three were reprimanded.

Assessing the Government's report, Chairwoman of the NA's Committee of Justice Lê Thị Nga, with the participation of the whole political system, anti-corruption activities continued to be promoted and witnessed strong and breakthrough progress.

"Corruption continued to be curbed and tended to decrease, thereby strengthening people's confidence in the Party and State's determination to fight corruption," Nga said.

However, the popularisation, education and dissemination of anti-corruption laws still had limitations and were not as effective as expected.

"A part of cadres, civil servants and public employees, including leaders and managers, still lack the self-discipline to comply with the laws, thus committed corruption and violations," she said.

"The Government has actively directed many anti-corruption measures, but in many agencies, units and localities, the heads have not fully paid enough attention to implementing the regulations on publicity, transparency and accountability," Nga said.

She said that the control of assets and income of persons with positions and powers has not yet been brought into full play, adding that localities failed to properly implement the asset/income declaration or change positions to avoid corruption.

People and businesses still suffer trouble when using public administrative services.

In some cases, after conducting an inspection and finding evidence of criminality, local inspection agencies did not transfer the cases with signs of crime to the investigating agencies, Nga said.

Only when the Government Inspector or Party Central Committee's Inspection Commission agencies conducts inspection and re-examination were these violations discovered and transferred to the investigating agencies.

Drug crimes increase as the COVID-19 pandemic controlled

From October 2021 to July 31, 2022, Việt Nam detected nearly 20,500 cases and arrested more than 32,400 people for drug crimes.

Nearly 19,800 cases and 27,173 defendants were prosecuted. Authorities seized 556.84kg of heroin, 1,588kg of synthetic drugs and over 2.2 million pills of synthetic drugs.

Drug crime prevention and control achieved outstanding results, especially the cracking down of many transnational drug trafficking and transportation lines and the seizure of large quantities of drugs.

However, drug crimes have increased again after the COVID-19 pandemic. Many drug trafficking rings transport drugs from abroad to Việt Nam via roads, mainly from Laos and Cambodia, air, and express delivery (from some European countries). Illegal use of narcotics and cannabis plants have been found at bars, karaoke or apartments in some localities. VNS

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In 2022, the investigating agencies in the People's Public Security have agreed to investigate 637 cases, with 1,366 accused of corruption crimes. As a result, criminal investigations were launched against 389 cases and 847 defendants, marking an increase of 107 cases and 311 defendants compared to the same period last year. As a result, the investigation agencies concluded and proposed People's Procuracy to prosecute 309 cases and 721 defendants.

The People's Procuracy at all levels was accepted to handle 416 cases of 1,095 accused, including 361 new cases and 913 accused.

A total of 353 cases with 893 defendants have been resolved, while 65 cases with 202 defendants are being processed.

The People's Courts at all levels settled first-instance procedures for 498 cases with 1,235 defendants, of which 382 cases and 949 defendants were completed.

A total of 285 cases with 680 defendants were brought to trial for corruption crimes. Five defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment, and 27 were sentenced to prison terms ranging from over 15 years to 20 years.

Regarding the recovery of corrupted assets, VNĐ88.6 trillion was identified as relating to corruption cases detected since the beginning of this year. Until now, nearly VNĐ10.33 billion has been claimed back. VNS