Politburo member and permanent member of the Party Central Committee's Secretariat Trần Quốc Vượng (middle) chairs the meeting on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Commission for Internal Affairs of the Party Central Committee has been urged to step up investigations into and the settlement of serious corruption cases and economic crimes.

Politburo member and permanent member of the Party Central Committee's Secretariat Trần Quốc Vượng on Monday said the commission needed to continue collaborating with relevant agencies to advise the Party on preventing and fighting petty corruption, and impose strict penalties on unscrupulous officials under the direction of the Party General Secretary, President Nguyễn Phú Trọng.

“As the strategic advisory agency of the Party on internal affairs, corruption prevention and judicial reform, the commission must continue to accelerate reforms and improve its efficiency,” he said while attending a conference to review the commission’s activities in 2019 and discuss plans for 2020.

He asked the commission to advise the Politburo, the Party Central Committee's Secretariat and the Central Steering Committee for Corruption Prevention and Control on how to improve regulations, policies and laws on anti-corruption, especially those related to obligations and responsibilities of leading officials and transparent institutions to protect and encourage people in the fight against corruption.

He also asked local commissions to supervise and inspect the implementation of Party and State regulations on internal affairs, anti-corruption and judicial reforms, especially in auditing, investigations and prosecutions.

Local commissions must handle complicated problems related to national order and security, especially in border areas, ethnic minorities, rural areas and those related to religious security, he said.

According to a report released at the conference, in 2019, the Commission for Internal Affairs of the Party Central Committee placed 67 serious economic crime and corruption cases under its supervision and brought to court 35 cases with 242 defendants.

Among those were six serious and complicated cases including the case of Vinashin, fake anti-cancer drugs sold by VN Pharma, violations committed at Vietnam Social Security, abuse of power and position of officials in Đà Nẵng City and other localities, and the cases of Đông Á Bank and MobiFone.

The same day, Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình had a working session with the Ministry of Industry and Trade on anti-corruption inspections.

Minister Trần Tuấn Anh said sticking to innovation, drastic measures holding parties responsible, the ministry had simplified administrative procedures towards modernisation in order to reduce petty corruption.

The ministry had launched its online public service portal, and more than 30,000 businesses had registered so far. In the first 10 months of 2019, more than 1.2 million online documents, accounting for 99 per cent of the total number of documents sent to the ministry, were processed through the portal.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình, who is deputy head of the Central Steering Committee for Corruption Prevention and Control, said delayed or loss-making projects and violations of market management, trade fraud and smuggling had affected the sector's reputation.

The inspection team from the Central Steering Committee for Corruption Prevention and Control proposed ten solutions to address these shortcomings in the fight against corruption.

Bình asked the ministry to clarify the causes of these difficulties and propose measures to improve anti-corruption efficiency. — VNS