Party General Secretary and State President Tô Lâm chairs the 30th session of the Communist Party's Central Steering Committee for Prevention and Control of Corruption, Wastefulness and Negative Phenomena on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Party General Secretary and State President Tô Lâm called for tightening oversight of power and moving faster to remove officials found incompetent, negligent or corrupt, as the Communist Party's top anti-corruption body released six months of disciplinary and prosecution figures on Thursday.

The top leader made the comments while chairing the 30th session of the Communist Party's Central Steering Committee for Prevention and Control of Corruption, Wastefulness and Negative Phenomena. 

Đặng Văn Dũng, deputy director of the party's Central Commission for Internal Affairs, told the meeting that inspection units at all levels have disciplined 65 Party organisations and 3,375 Party members so far this year, including two officials whose posts fall under the direct authority of the Communist Party's Central Committee.

Inspections and audits led to recommendations to recover nearly VNĐ800 billion (US$30 million) and 31 hectares of land, along with administrative penalties for 356 organisations and 1,192 individuals.

Thirteen cases showing signs of criminal wrongdoing were referred to investigators.

Nationwide, prosecutors and courts opened 1,985 new criminal cases against 4,671 defendants, formally indicted 1,886 cases involving 4,520 defendants, and handed down first-instance verdicts in 1,721 cases against 4,415 defendants on charges of corruption, economic crimes and abuse of power.

Among the smaller subset of marquee cases that the Steering Committee tracks directly, authorities opened five new cases against 52 defendants, added 58 defendants to five existing cases, wrapped up investigations in six cases involving 77 defendants, issued indictments in seven cases against 136 defendants, and held first- and second-instance trials covering 220 and 153 defendants, respectively – all, officials said, on the timetable the committee had set.

On asset recovery, investigators seized, froze or impounded property worth the equivalent of millions of dollars during the investigative stage.

Courts and prosecutors recovered more than VNĐ1.3 trillion ($49 million) during prosecution and trial proceedings, while enforcement agencies clawed back nearly VNĐ4 trillion ($152 million) at the civil-judgment stage, including over VNĐ1.8 trillion ($70 million) from cases under the Steering Committee's direct watch.

The top leader said the crackdown continues to operate 'with no zones off-limits and no exceptions', while stressing that recovering stolen or misused assets, not just securing convictions, should be treated as a core measure of success.

He credited coordination between internal-affairs, inspection, audit, police, prosecutorial, judicial and enforcement agencies for moving cases forward 'early and continuously'.

Looking ahead, the Party General Secretary and State President called on provincial and municipal Party committees to strengthen power controls and supervise how local officials exercise their authority, while pushing ahead with delegating more decision-making to lower levels of government to speed up services for citizens and businesses.

That decentralisation, he said, must be paired with data-driven accountability and clearly defined authority "so that it does not create new excuses for officials to dodge responsibility or pass the buck".

He called for translating Politburo Resolution 04 and its accompanying Plan 03 into concrete legal changes, with priority given to revising the Land Law and drafting special resolutions to address legal violations tied to State enterprises, the private sector, and science, technology and digital-transformation policy.

He also called for a comprehensive review of the legal system to identify gaps and loopholes that enable corruption and wastefulness, and for a 'breakthrough' push specifically on combating wastefulness.

The top leader directed agencies to focus investigation and strict handling on several cases and sectors, including matters tied to the Long Thành International Airport project, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' headquarters and alleged wrongdoing in food safety, the environment, mining, energy, land management and the finance and banking sectors.

He also called for closer coordination among agencies to speed up the recovery of assets at every stage and for an expanded public information campaign promoting frugality and integrity alongside the broader anti-corruption push, including efforts to clear long-stalled projects at risk of further losses. — VNS