HÀ NỘI — Corrupt officials are making the fight against smuggling and trade fraud harder to win, heard a meeting on Monday.

Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình on Monday requested agencies strictly deal with law violations and corrupt officials and public employees who aid criminals.

He made the request at a meeting held in Hà Nội by the Government’s Steering Committee for Crime Fighting and the National Steering Committee for Prevention and Control of Smuggling, Trade Fraud and Counterfeit Goods.

Deputy Minister of Public Security Sen Lt Gen Lê Qúy Vương reported more than 53,000 social order violation cases were recorded in 2018, and more than 50 per cent of them were criminal cases related to asset appropriation.

Corruption has declined but petty corruption still exists in many fields. Meanwhile, crimes and economic law violations occurred in many sectors, particularly finance, banking, land management, natural resources and project investment.

Smuggling, trading of banned products and cross-border trafficking of goods and money haven’t shown signs of decreasing, he noted, adding that hi-tech criminals have used many new tricks, causing widespread losses. Online gambling has also become serious, involving trillions of đồng.

Vương said police had worked with relevant forces to tackle crimes, while dealing with complex criminal and social order problems in a timely fashion.

At the meeting, many participants said it was of utmost importance to continue enhancing discipline in the fight against smuggling and trade fraud. They pointed out that there remain some officials and public employees with low capacity and degraded morality, which has hampered the fight against crimes, smuggling and counterfeits.

Applauding improvements in the crime prevention and control, Deputy PM Bình said this was a constant task of all ministries, sectors and localities.

He partly attributed the complicated smuggling and trade fraud situation to a lack of responsibility and lax management, even collusion with criminals, of some corrupted officials and public employees. Therefore, he requested inspections be stepped up and petty corruption be eradicated at administrative agencies so trust in officials will not be undermined.

It was also necessary to prevent crimes within authorised forces themselves such as the public security, customs, market management, border guard, coast guard or taxation forces. Officials and public employees who lack responsibility or show signs of committing violations must be strictly handled, Bình stressed. — VNS