Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hoà Bình speaks at a conference on the results of inspection on the seizure and forfeiture of assets associated with criminal cases of corruption and fraud on Thursday.– Photo kinhtedothi.vn

HÀ NỘI – Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hoà Bình has affirmed that the seizure and forfeiture of criminal property during investigations is very important and needs to be done faultlessly to avoid criminals concealing property or assets.

The Deputy Prime Minister was speaking at a conference on the results of inspection on the seizure and forfeiture of assets associated with criminal cases of corruption and fraud on Thursday.

The conference focused on the seizure of assets of criminal cases between January 1, 2013 and September 30, 2018 and the judgements of the court handed down before January 1, 2013 but not yet implemented at the Central Committee of the Police’s Party, the Supreme People’s Court, and the Supreme People’s Procuracy. It was held by inspection team No 1 of the Central Steering Committee on Corruption Prevention and Control, led by Deputy PM Bình.

Bình said based on the results of the seizures, the inspection team would find out shortcomings in the mechanisms and policies on property seizure and forfeiture, and propose solutions.

Major General Lương Tam Quang, chief of the secretariat of the Ministry of Public Security said apart from collecting evidence on the crime, investigation agencies at all levels urgently identified the evidence related to the appropriated property and coordinated with functional agencies to block all types of assets of criminals.

However, Quang said the work faced difficulties. The rate of money and assets seized was lower than the total appropriated by criminals. In addition, the offense took place long before the investigation period, so the offender had spent the money or hid assets.

The cause of the obstacles, according to him, was that criminals held high positions, had high professional qualifications and broad social relations. They had many tricks to hide assets and destroy evidence.

Some investigators lacked experience, he added.

A report by the Party Committee of the Supreme People’s Procuracy showed that the Supreme People’s Procuracy had issued a number of guiding documents on detecting and handling corruption cases, especially in recent corruption cases which occurred at Vietnam Oil and Gas Group or the Construction Bank, to ensure the asset seizure for the State.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy PM Bình praised the efficiency of the asset seizure of the three units. In the first nine months of this year, the amount of seized money was more than VNĐ6 trillion (US$258 million).

However, Bình said it was necessary to add some contents on the amount of money, which was not blocked or seized, and add more evidence on typical criminal cases on the reports.

He asked the three units to implement the requirement of the inspection team to ensure the results of the inspection. – VNS